ATLANTA — Cobb County Court Clerk Connie Taylor was indicted Thursday in connection with alleged destruction of documents in 2022, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said.
The indictment on two counts each of destruction of public records and violation of oath of office stems from allegations that Taylor told an employee to delete government emails and financial records in response to an open records request in October 2022, Carr’s office said.
“Georgians deserve honesty and transparency from their elected officials, and anything less undermines public trust,” Carr said. “Any attempts to conceal or destroy government records are serious allegations that cannot be ignored, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
Taylor’s staff would not put calls through to Taylor or take messages from Capitol Beat Thursday afternoon. On a fourth call, a staffer forwarded the call to a local newspaper in Marietta.
The indictment came after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the attorney general’s White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit presented evidence to a Cobb County grand jury.
“The intentional destruction of public records is a serious offense that undermines transparency and public trust,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said.
Neither agency disclosed the subject matter of the documents that allegedly were destroyed.
Carr’s office noted that indictments are merely allegations and that Taylor should be presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
It is not the first time Carr has pursued public officials in connection with open records requests. In 2019, his office obtained a conviction against a former press secretary of the City of Atlanta on two counts of violating the Georgia Open Records Act, which is a misdemeanor offense. The press secretary had told a spokesperson for the city’s Watershed Management Department to delay the release of records requested by a local television news station, according to Carr’s office.