Cairo cable probe leads to arrests - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Cairo cable probe leads to arrests

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By LeiLani Golden - bio | email

Cairo, GA (WALB) –  An investigation into missing Cairo utility money has led to related arrests. Authorities arrested five people, two of them former city employees last week for theft of cable services.

The arrests are a development in the original slow-moving case that has re-sparked some public anger.

Some people in Cairo, like Deandre Calloway, are furious about what they call the never ending government corruption there. "They're stealing from us and we're the ones working hard for it," she said.

In December, Grady County district attorney Joe Mulholland requested GBI involvement after an undisclosed amount of money went missing from the city's utilities department. Eight months later, no arrests have been made in that case and the details are still unclear.

"Your own government stealing from you? The people standing in here with you saying we're all the same and working real hard. We always look at other countries and now we've got to look at ourselves," said Calloway.

While working on the original case, investigators found evidence that five people stole cable services:

  • 29-year-old Allan Womble
  • 68-year-old James Whigham
  • 30-year-old Christine Tuning
  • 40-year old Donald Towne and his wife
  • 30-year-old Tiffany Fowler

Towne is a former Cairo fire chief and Fowler a former CNS employee.

Authorities arrested Christine Tuning in Leon County Florida. The other four suspects were taken into custody here, at the Grady County Sheriff's Office.

Calloway believes the arrests are just the tip of the iceberg. "Now that they found out who's doing it, they should be on the lookout, not trusting their employees because you know there's a lot of folks you can't trust. If they found out the two, there's a lot they've got to watch. I hope they really handle it."

And with Cairo's city attorney estimating as many as twenty current and former employees pocketing unearned cash, there could be many more arrests to come.

Assistant special agent Steve Turner with the Thomasville Georgia Bureau of Investigation told us it will be a long time before their original investigation into the missing utilities funds produces any arrests.

 

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