Following the indictment of the Paulding County District Attorney by a Grand Jury last week that involved the Cedartown solicitor, the person who was serving in that capacity at the time is now known thanks to details provided in the paperwork charging Donald Richard Donovan with bribery, violation of oath of office and false swearing.
According to documents made available online by Twitter user Andrew Fleischman in his post showed that former Polk County Commissioner and Cedartown City Solicitor Stefanie Drake Burford was acting as prosecutor in the case involving Paulding County District Attorney’s office Victim Advocate Jamie White on shoplifting.
Here are the documents:
God I hate the way Georgia indictments are written. Donovan swapped dismissals with a municipal court prosecutor–one for her client in exchange for one for an employee he was trying to sleep with. pic.twitter.com/6lSBzZyOy3
— Andrew Fleischman (@ASFleischman) February 18, 2021
Burford, who continues to serve as an attorney based out of the Marietta-area, previously served on the Polk County Commission until she resigned and moved out of Rockmart in 2017. During that time, she also served as the County Commission Chair. She first won election in 2012, and again in 2016 and was into her second term when she decided to move to Cobb County.
She was the first and only female solicitor appointed to serve as prosecutor for the City of Cedartown’s Municipal Court.
Per the indictment, Burford is alleged to have received a “benefit” in the form of a dismissal of a case in Donovan’s circuit that was pending to go before court in her capacity as a private attorney. The state’s case alleges in the indictment that he sought to have charges dismissed against White.
White ultimately was allowed to take part in pre-trial diversion and was required to pay restitution and take a class on shoplifting in order to have her charges nullified.
According to reporting from lawandcrime.com, who reported the tweet from Fleishman with the documents from the indictment, White filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Donovan after he was alleged to have made unwanted advances, gave her gifts, sent her texts, and more.
His statement under oath denying the allegations were proven false when White produced audio recordings and evidence that Donovan had lied in the statement he made that was 93 pages long.
Check back for additional information about the ongoing local involvement in this area case as it becomes available.
