ATLANTA — A former supervisor in DeKalb County’s Tax Commissioner’s Office, allegedly accepted bribe payments from customers to register unlawfully vehicles and then tried to blackmail a bribe payer by threatening to inform on her to the FBI, the U.S. attorney announced Monday.
Gerald D. Harris, 51, served as the supervisor of Tax Tag Clerks for the office from July 2017 to November 2019. In that position, he oversaw the Tax Commissioner’s North Office’s clerks who processed motor vehicle registrations and renewals for customers.
According to U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak, from mid-2018 to November 2019, Harris accepted bribe payments from customers to unlawfully register vehicles or renew vehicle registrations.
“Harris traded his integrity for money and betrayed the trust of the citizens of DeKalb County by allegedly accepting bribe payments,” Pak said. “Then, in an audacious display of bravado, Harris attempted to blackmail one of those bribe payers.”
Pak said Harris accepted bribe payments:
- To register vehicles to individuals who did not have Georgia driver’s licenses or identification cards as required, typically in exchange for $200 per vehicle;
- To register vehicles that did not have the required accompanying documentation (such as: titles or Forms MV-1 title/tag application), typically in exchange for $500 to $1,000 per vehicle; and
- To renew vehicles that had not passed emissions tests by falsely entering that the vehicles had emissions exemptions, typically in exchange for $100 per vehicle.
In total, Harris accepted at least $30,000 in bribe payments.
In addition to accepting bribe payments, Harris also attempted to blackmail one of the individuals who had been paying him bribe money, the U.S. attorney's office said.
On November 18, 2019, the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office fired Harris for accepting bribe payments. On the same date, Harris admitted to the FBI that he had accepted more than $30,000 in bribe payments in exchange for illegally registering/renewing vehicles for several people
“The FBI stands firm with its partners in law enforcement to expose public officials who choose their own financial interest over the taxpayers they serve,” Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta said. “The crimes Harris is charged with erode the public’s trust in government and we will continue to vigorously pursue any public official who chooses to violate that trust.”
The U.S. Attorney charged Harris in a criminal information with one count each of federal program bribery and blackmail.
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