Ticket-fixing claims examined in Forsyth

Clerk of court now has one fewer employee

By: Dan Galindo | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: November 07, 2008

The SBI has finished a three-month investigation into allegations of ticket-fixing at the Forsyth County Hall of Justice.

The State Bureau of Investigation's report was turned over to District Attorney Tom Keith on Oct. 29. Keith said he has not yet read the report.

"I can say nothing about it one way or another," Keith said.

Terry Holbrook, the clerk of Superior Court, said that his office has one fewer employee because of the investigation, but he declined to say whether the employee was fired or resigned.

"Really, that's about all I can tell you about it," he said.

Jennifer Canada, a spokeswoman for the SBI, would not describe the allegations. Neither would Keith nor Holbrook.

One part of the investigation was referred to the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission, which investigates complaints made against judges, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.

Any complaint to the commission becomes public only if the commission decides to hold a hearing over alleged misconduct, or if the commission issues a public reprimand.

The recent investigation comes four years after a ticket-fixing scandal that led to charges against two clerks who took money to dismiss tickets.

In 2004, the SBI was called in to investigate irregularities at the Clerk of Court's Office after a man reported that he had paid a fine to take care of a ticket, but the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles wasn't notified of the payment. He lost his license, and when he asked about it, he was told that court records showed that he was in court when he was not.

Other irregularities turned up during that SBI review, including tickets dismissed with a payment recorded in the information sent to DMV but with no payment received by the bookkeeping section of the clerk's office. The two clerks charged pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of altering court documents. The Forsyth court system handles more than 50,000 traffic tickets a year, and Keith and Holbrook have said in past interviews that there is no sure way to prevent ticket-fixing.

Holbrook said in May that files are matched to receipts for payment, and the court files are initialed by Keith's office when the ticket is resolved. But with so many tickets being handled, no system is perfect, he said.

■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.