Former Cherokee Elections Director Indicted on Theft Charges

By Kristal Dixon

Cherokee County’s former elections director has been indicted on charges she allegedly made personal purchases using a county-issued credit card.

A Cherokee County grand jury this week indicted Janet Ruth Munda, of Cumming, on one count of theft by taking. Munda was arrested and charged in January with felony theft by taking for allegedly using her county-issued credit card for personal purchases.

According to the indictment, between Nov. 10, 2011, and March 27, 2014, Munda, “being in lawful possession of a Cherokee County-issued Bank of America Procurement Card, the property of Cherokee County Board of Elections, did unlawfully appropriate U.S. currency through the use of said procurement card with the intention of depriving said owner, Cherokee County, of said property, contrary to the laws of this state, the good order, peace and dignity thereof.”

Munda was charged with the crime following a six-month investigation launched by detectives with the sheriff’s office.

The investigation against the former elections director started in June 2014 when County Manager Jerry Cooper met with investigator Nathan Luca with the sheriff’s office’s Financial Crimes Unit to discuss Munda’s alleged improper use of county resources with unauthorized purchases made on the county-issued credit card.

Cooper provided the investigator with a packet of information, which included roughly one year’s worth of account statements for the card “in the care and control of Janet Munda,” a June 2014 incident report from the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said.

The following month, the Cherokee County Board of Elections fired Munda from the position she held for 10 years, and turned over all files to law enforcement related to the investigation.

Kim Stancil was tapped to serve as interim elections supervisor until a permanent replacement is hired. She was eventually named to the post on a full-time basis.

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Photo credit: Cherokee Sheriff’s Office