Bibb County Sheriff’s Investigators arrested and charged a Crimestoppers administrative assistant with four counts of fiduciary theft this afternoon. Helen Jones, 40, of Macon was determined to have misappropriated funds that were allocated for tipsters and arrange for an accomplice to pick up the reward money.
Jones has identified an accomplice, whom investigators will charge once sufficient evidence is gathered to substantiate the accomplice’s involvement.
Bibb and Houston investigators were contacted by Macon Regional Crimestoppers Chairman Warren Selby, Jr. after a standard compliance review revealed inconsistencies with invoices and paperwork filed by Helen Jones. The investigation revealed that several fraudulent invoices totaling less than $1,800.00 were processed by Helen Jones.
Crimestoppers is a program that offers reward money for those who call in with tips about crimes in the Middle Georgia region. Tipsters can remain anonymous and there is a procedure to follow to pick up reward money for tips that lead to arrests. Helen Jones was responsible for handling the paperwork associated with the reward money and she was able to influence the system through false invoices to allocate reward funds so that her associate was able to receive the funds.
Crimestoppers chairman Warren Selby, Jr. said, “As we celebrate 15 years of assisting law enforcement in the apprehension of thousands of criminals in Central Georgia, I am pleased that our program has checks and balances in place that quickly discovered these fraudulent activities by a newly hired assistant. Our program continues to do great things for our community and our Board of Directors takes seriously the responsibilities placed upon us by the community and especially our donors.”
This case is still under investigation and anyone with information is urged to contact the Bibb Sheriff’s Office at 478-751 -7500 and ask to leave a message for the on-call Crimes Against Property Investigator.