A Marietta Councilman has been temporarily suspended amid recent felony charges he was found guilty of.
A jury recently convicted Anthony Coleman, 58, of one count of making a false statement, for sending a letter from his city office to the city’s probation department indicating that Coleman’s girlfriend, Terry Jones Mays, had completed 59 hours of community service at Marietta Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, according to a Patch article.
Marietta City Council members called a special meeting on Friday at which time they voted to temporarily suspend Coleman based on the conviction.
According to the article, Jones had not performed any of her required community service. That letter was dated Dec. 15, 2013, but was given to the probation department on or before Dec. 10, 2013.
Last week, Coleman was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, five years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
The council voted 5-1 at the Friday meeting to temporarily suspend Coleman pending the results of an appeal. Coleman has until June 12 to appeal the verdict if he chooses.
Gov. Nathan Deal can appoint someone to fill Coleman’s Ward 5 vacancy, but has no time limit in which to do so, the article reads.
A special election is needed within 30 days from the date of his dismissal.
This isn’t the first time a Cobb County official is in hot water.
A Kennesaw city councilman who rejected a plea deal that would have given him 15 years in prison pleaded guilty last year and ended up with a longer sentence.
Leonard Church, 67, pleaded guilty to child molestation and other charges just prior to his jury trial beginning in Cobb County Superior Court. .
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In exchange for the guilty plea, Cobb prosecutors reduced a count of aggravated child molestation to simple child molestation. Aggravated child molestation carried the possibility of a life sentence with a minimum 25-year prison term.
Church was also accused of possessing hundreds of images of child pornography