by Dave Williams | Jun 5, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The ringleader of a bank fraud and identity theft scheme in Southwest Georgia involving stolen checks and a fake recruiting website has been sentenced to 81 months in federal prison.
Jalen Tylee Hill, also known as “Roscoe Hill,” 26, of Americus was the last of 15 defendants to be sentenced in the case. Hill pleaded guilty last month to one count of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identify theft, and one count of conspiracy to possess stolen mail.
According to court documents and testimony, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint in December 2021 about mail theft and forged checks. Investigators found that numerous checks that had been stolen from mailboxes at residential and commercial locations throughout the region were being forged and deposited into other bank accounts.
Hill was found to have directed the scheme, recruiting people via Facebook to deposit stolen, forged or duplicated checks into their bank accounts in exchange for splitting half of the money. During a six-month period, Hill stole hundreds of pieces of mail, took part in at least 68 incidents of bank fraud, and unlawfully used debit cards belonging to others at least 14 times.
Hill then deposited numerous stolen, forged or otherwise fraudulent checks into other bank accounts at more than 10 banks or other financial institutions, with a loss of more than $165,000.
As part of another scheme, Hill created a fake solar panel installation company recruiting page online from which he stole the identities of 28 victims.
“Schemes to defraud and steal from citizens will not be tolerated,” said C. Shanelle Booker, acting U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Georgia. “This case serves as a reminder for all of us to be as vigilant as possible with what we share online and monitor our financial accounts.”
After serving his prison sentence, Hill will be on three years of supervised release. The court will determine the restitution he must pay later.
A co-defendant in the case, Victoria Lynn Carter of Americus, also was sentenced on Wednesday. Carter, 25, will serve one year of supervised release.
Thirteen other co-defendants already have been sentenced to short prison terms and/or supervised release and ordered to pay restitution.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the FBI and U.S. Secret Service.
by Dave Williams | Jun 5, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Six state legislators from Georgia have signed onto a letter urging members of Congress to oppose a provision tucked inside President Trump’s massive budget bill that would freeze state and local regulation of artificial intelligence for 10 years.
The bipartisan letter, dated Tuesday and signed by more than 250 state lawmakers from across the nation, warns of the dangers of stopping in its tracks state-level efforts to put guardrails around rapidly growing AI technology.
“Over the past several years, states across the country have enacted AI-related laws increasing consumer transparency, setting rules for the government acquisition of new technology, protecting patients in our health-care system, and defending artists and creators,” the letter states.
“A federal moratorium on AI policy threatens to wipe out these laws and a range of legislation, impacting more than just AI development and leaving constituents across the country vulnerable to harm.”
The Georgia lawmakers who signed the letter include three Republicans – state Sen. John Albers of Roswell, and state Reps. Todd Jones of South Forsyth and Gary Richardson of Evans – and three Democrats – House Minority Whip Sam Park of Lawrenceville, House Democratic Caucus Chair Tanya Miller of Atlanta, and Rep. Scott Holcomb of Atlanta.
The U.S. House passed Trump’s bill – the cornerstone of his second-term agenda – last month by a single vote and sent it to the Senate. The huge bill contains a series of controversial spending cuts that would help fund an extension of the tax cuts Congress enacted early in the president’s first term.
But a host of provisions unrelated to tax and spending policies are inside the measure, including the freeze on state- and local-level AI regulations.
Some House Republicans – including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome – have said they didn’t know the AI provision was in the bill. Greene told The New York Times that she would have voted against the legislation had she known of the AI provision.
Jones, who chairs the Georgia House Technology & Infrastructure Innovation Committee, called the provision “catastrophic,” particularly given the fast pace at which AI technology is advancing.
“Ten years is untenable. There’s too many things happening,” he said. “By putting in a 10-year moratorium … we’re putting our dependence on a federal government that hasn’t been able to do anything effectively or efficiently.”
“Currently, they have done nothing, and we must act to protect our citizens and businesses, and to prepare for the future,” Albers added. “These are the same people who cannot balance a budget, so my confidence is very low that they will tackle something as complex as artificial intelligence.”
The General Assembly has been actively addressing AI issues in recent years, passing legislation in 2022 authorizing the use of autonomous service-delivery robots to deliver cargo, and passing bills this year requiring the Georgia Technology Authority to conduct annual inventories of AI use by state agencies and giving the state Department of Transportation authority over “vertiports,” which serve small aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
Legislation outlawing the creation of AI-generated “deep fakes” to spread false information or images in political campaigns cleared the House this year but died in the Senate.
by Dave Williams | Jun 4, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A bookkeeper at an accounting firm in Glynn County has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $380,000 from an elderly client.
Christie Edwards, 47, of Jacksonville, Fla., is charged with racketeering and theft by taking in connection with a series of fraudulent ATM withdrawals, point-of-sale transactions, checks, and credit card payments.
The case was investigated by the White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit housed in the Attorney General’s Prosecution Division.
“Protecting older Georgians from scams and fraud will always be our top priority,” Attorney General Chris Carr said Wednesday.
“Sadly, those who often perpetrate such crimes are closest to the victims with direct access to their savings and personal information. We encourage older adults and their families to have a plan in place that includes multiple trusted individuals to oversee their finances and file a report with law enforcement if you ever feel something is wrong.”
A guide created by the state agency’s Consumer Protection Division covers a variety of topics important to seniors, including scams, identity theft, reverse mortgages, home repairs, long-term care, elder abuse, and more. The guide is available in English, Spanish, and Korean and is free to download.
Carr’s office has not released further details about the investigation that led to Edwards’ indictment.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lack of access to cancer screening is costing Georgia heartache and money, especially in rural areas with fewer doctors and an aging population, state lawmakers learned Tuesday.
It was the second hearing of a study committee of the Georgia House of Representatives, which met in Albany at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital to hear from experts.
The members of the Study Committee on Cancer Care Access had already heard last week in Gainesville about the state’s relatively high rates of lung and colon cancer and the potential risk of exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, particularly in parts of North Georgia.
On Tuesday, they heard about the value of screening for cancer early enough to treat it successfully and at less cost. And they learned about the challenge of providing that screening within the U.S. health-care system in general and in rural Georgia in particular.
Fewer medical students are choosing primary care because of the low pay compared to specialty fields. Fewer primary care doctors means longer drives for patients, and these doctors serve as a key gateway to screening. Add the transportation challenges to inadequate insurance coverage, and many Georgians simply aren’t getting screened for cancer, said Robert Smith, senior vice president of Early Cancer Detection Science at the American Cancer Society.
Too often, patients get screened after experiencing symptoms and learn that they have advanced cancer. Then, they either suffer through distressing treatments or succumb to the disease, Smith said. The resulting pain, in human cost, ripples out to everyone around them, he added.
This inefficiency costs society a lot of money.
“Employers tell us that cancer is the top driver of their health-care costs,” Smith said, noting that two-thirds of cancer patients miss more than four weeks of work, and more than a third miss more than three months.
Smith said the U.S. health-care system relies on overworked primary care physicians and volunteer organizations to advocate for screening. He pointed to Europe, and Sweden in particular, as a model for establishing more deliberate screening systems. Georgia lawmakers could establish such a system, relieving primary care doctors of the responsibility, he said, when prompted for recommendations.
Nita Ham, executive director of the Georgia State Office of Rural Health in the Department of Community Health, painted what she called a “pretty bleak picture” of deteriorating conditions in rural Georgia.
That’s partly due to the flight of younger people, leaving an older and more cancer-prone population behind, Ham said. But the situation is compounded by inadequate insurance coverage and by hospital closures, forcing patients to drive farther for care, she said.
Eleven rural hospitals have closed since 2001, eight of them between 2013 and 2020, Ham said.
“We certainly are concerned that there may be one or two more in the near future,” she said.
Cancer costs hospitals a significant amount, said Caylee Noggle, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association. She said hospitals lose tens of millions of dollars on uncompensated cancer care statewide.
Sarah Sessoms, chief operating officer of Community Health Works, which provides low-cost and mobile cancer screening, recommended that the legislature make nonprofit hospitals report the number of cancer screenings they do. She said lawmakers could establish a minimum number of indigent screenings as a condition of nonprofit status.
by Dave Williams | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking public input ahead of two planned open houses this month on a plan to widen Interstate 16 west of Savannah.
The project would widen the heavily traveled highway from two lanes to three in both directions from the I-16/I-95 interchange west to Georgia 67 in Bulloch County, a distance of 32 miles. Twenty bridges in 10 locations along the route would be widened or replaced.
I-16 serves as a major connector for trucks heading into and out of the Port of Savannah, as well as to warehousing and manufacturing facilities along the corridor. The widening would include the stretch of I-16 in Bryan County adjacent to the huge Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing plan, which opened in March and has resulted in heavy rush-hour traffic congestion.
The open houses will take place on June 11 at the Bulloch County Center for Agriculture in Statesboro, and on June 12 at Bloomingdale City Hall. Both will run from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
The project’s price tag is estimated at $450 million. The DOT expects to select a contractor for the work during the second quarter of next year, with construction due to start in 2027.
by Dave Williams | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State Sen. Brian Strickland entered the 2026 race for Georgia attorney general Tuesday, pledging to uphold Georgia’s conservative values against attacks from the Left.
“We’re proud to run on my reputation as a conservative fighter who knows to win,” Strickland said during a news conference at Liberty Plaza across from the state Capitol.
The Republican from McDonough was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2013. A lawyer, Strickland serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In that role, he has helped steer to passage Georgia’s strict abortion law and legislation targeting human trafficking and granting the right of Georgians to carry firearms without a permit.
Strickland also has helped champion the cause of mental health reform in Georgia, including a sweeping reform bill the General Assembly passed in 2022 that, among other things, requires insurance companies to cover mental health treatment at the same level as physical ailments. He said improving mental health care inside Georgia’s prison system has been a major part of criminal justice reform efforts launched by then-Gov. Nathan Deal during the last decade.
“We need to lock up people who need to be locked up,” Strickland said. “But we’re also going to work to help people who need to get out of the system.”
Strickland accused Democrats of constantly taking the state to court to challenge both electoral defeats and legislation passed by the General Assembly’s Republican majorities. In his case, that includes several court challenges to his electoral victories that he has been forced to beat back.
“They’re trying to win at the courthouse what they couldn’t win at the ballot box,” he said. “We look forward to taking that fight across the state.”
One other candidate in the race for attorney general, state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, filed paperwork in April indicating plans to run for the post.
