Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney

Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit

Sherry Boston, District Attorney

BOC's former chief of staff, business associate indicted


DECATUR, GA – A former DeKalb County Board of Commissioners chief of staff and a man who did business with the county were indicted today for theft and conspiracy.
Morris Williams and Douglas Wayne Cotter were charged on two counts of theft by taking and one count each of conspiracy to defraud a political subdivision. Cotter also was indicted for making a false statement.

“County employees and those who do business with the county are held to a higher standard because they provide or use resources to further the best interests of DeKalb citizens and businesses,” DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James said. “If you betray the public trust, you must be held accountable.”
Board of Commissioners’ chief of staff in June 2011, Williams instructed Cotter to submit an invoice to DeKalb County for work done by Water Removal Services on then-Commissioner Lee May’s behalf.

The price tag Cotter submitted for the work done was inflated by $4,000.

Several days after the invoice was submitted, the company was paid approximately $6,400 by DeKalb County. At Cotter’s insistence, the company subsequently cut a $4,000 check to May.
Someone other than May endorsed the check in May’s name, and Cotter cashed the check at his family’s Dawson County business.