He was released from Cobb Jail on Thursday night on his own recognizance, per Superior Court Judge George Kreeger. And a spokeswoman for the electric cooperative confirmed Friday that the utility will be paying his legal bills.
Meantime, the case has been randomly assigned to Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy. Flournoy was appointed to the bench by one of Brown's attorneys, former Gov. Roy Barnes, in July 2000.
Asked if that could present an issue, District Attorney Pat Head said, "I don't know if it's a problem. Most of the judges are fair irrespective of who appoints them."
If Flournoy recuses himself, a judge from outside the county will be brought in, Head said. The defense could also request a change of venue.
Assistant District Attorney John Butters, and a special assistant district attorney, John Floyd, are prosecuting the case. Floyd is also employed at the Atlanta law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore and has special expertise in RICO statutes, Head said.
Barnes and Craig Gillen, of Gillen, Withers & Lake, which has offices in Atlanta and Savannah, are defending Brown, though Cobb EMC will pay those bills.
"Under the bylaws, the company is obligated to indemnify senior management for legal fees, and is doing so," EMC spokeswoman Carol Cookerly said.
Brown was off from work on Friday.
"He had a previously arranged engagement with his family and is with them," she said.
Brown surrendered to Cobb Jail deputies at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, hours after a county grand jury indicted him on 31 counts of criminal wrongdoing. After completing the book-in process, Brown walked out of the jail at 8:52 p.m. on his own recognizance, according to jail documents.
Brown is charged with 16 counts of theft by taking, three counts of racketeering, ten counts of making false statements, and one count each of conspiracy to defraud Cobb Government and conspiracy to defraud the Cobb County School District, both of which are EMC members.
The indictment returned Thursday afternoon alleges that Brown used Cobb Electric Membership Corporation as a piggybank to fund various operations and activities of Cobb Energy without approval by the cooperative's members, as required in EMC's bylaws. Without revenues from these various business dealings by Cobb Energy, funded by the co-op's members, Cobb Energy could not have paid Brown millions of dollars in salary and compensations, dividends in preferred stock, and forgiven a $3 million loan Brown used to purchase the stock, according to the indictment.
"Moreover, at least through 2007, the accused took steps to conceal and cover up the thefts and other crimes charged in this indictment," the document states.
Brown's defense attorneys say the entire indictment is "without basis," and they "intend to fight every inch of the way in this case."
News Editor Kim Isaza contributed to this report
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"In addition, the Cooperative shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law, advance expenses
to, and indemnify, each person who is, or was, an Emeritus director, against all expenses, including attorney’s fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement, actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with any threatened, pending or completed action or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative, by reason of the fact that such person is, or was, an Emeritus director."
That sucking sound you hear isn't just coming from Dwight Brown's intracranial space.
Thanks for the other clarification.
Cobb Energy at the ProCore call center did handle calls for over 30 other utilities across the south. Cobb Energy did not own these businesses, just handled their customer service calls.
There was also a tree cutting business and surge protectors were sold by Cobb Energy at the ProCore Call Center.
Employees at the ProCore Call Center were employeed by ProCore NOT Cobb EMC, which was a way for Brown & the EMC Board to pay lower salaries and offer less benefits. ProCore employees, who worked on the Cobb EMC account, originally answered the phone saying "Cobb EMC". Then in June 2007, these employees were instructed to start anwering the phone saying "Cobb Energy."
Complete BS.
Where's the Cobb EMC attorney who approved of the supposed illegal dealings. Hopefully he'll be in the mix. Someone needs to push for an investigation with the state bar.
WE WAMT OUR MONEY BACK!!!!!
If you apply the principle used by the Cobb County School System to this instance, which is the school system did not have to pay all the legal fees for Dr. Crooks a few months ago when he had a "slip in Roberts Rules of Order", then I definitely do not understand why the Cobb EMC co-op members are "obligated" to pay for Brown's legal fees when his "alledged crimes" occurred through Cobb Energy & ALL the little companies against Cobb EMC.
I am pleased about this indictment, long overdue. My electric bills this summer were budget killers.
Once again, Roy Barnes misses the point. Cobb County will only benefit from publicity that shows that it will deal with corruption. Remember that only "special people" were allowed to buy shares in Cobb Energy. It wasn't traded on the open market.