Douglas County Commission Chairman Romona Jackson Jones was booked at the county jail Sunday afternoon.
Jones, 65, was the last of the five people indicted on bid-rigging charges by a grand jury Feb. 24 to go through the booking process.
The five originally had until March 10 to be booked and post a predetermined $20,000 bond. However, Jones was given an extension due to an emergency in her attorney’s family, according to a spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office.
In addition to bid-rigging, Jones is accused of lying to investigators during the investigation, which centered around a 2018 janitorial contract with S&K Express at the then-new county annex building on Fairburn Road.
Jones’ attorney Clinton Rucker released the following statement to the Sentinel on Monday: “Dr. Romona Jackson Jones has complied with the standard pre-trial requirement of satisfying the Grand Jury warrant at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and is prepared to advance to the next legal step in this process. The Constitution guarantees each citizen with the presumption of innocence, and the right to have formal charges confronted and challenged in a court of law. Until that time, the Chairman will continue representing the citizens of Douglas County, at the highest level and in the capacity that she was duly elected to serve as her legal team focuses on this legal matter.The Chairman continues to vehemently deny all allegations of any wrongdoing as alleged in the indictment and looks forward to the opportunity to have this case decided in a court of law, and not in the court of public opinion when ALL of the facts can be presented as required by due process of law. Dr. Jackson Jones will not be making any public statements nor responding to any questions regarding this pending legal matter on the advice of her legal team.”
In addition to Jones, District Commissioner Henry Mitchell III and Tax Commissioner Greg Baker were indicted along with former county Purchasing Director Bill Peacock and S&K Express owner Anthony Knight.
The GBI used a search warrant signed by Chief Superior Court Judge William H. “Beau” McClain on Aug. 18, 2022, to “search and seize’ the emails of several county employees and the elected officials in regards to the cleaning contract.
The three elected officials could be removed from office by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Kemp is expected to appoint a committee to review each case for each elected official in the coming days. A spokesperson for Kemp’s office told the Sentinel late Monday “there is no update on this as of this moment.”
Once committees are appointed by Kemp, they would then have 14 days to recommend to Kemp whether there should be suspensions until trial.
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