Tears and Laughter: Suspended Chief Probate Clerk, "I'm not taking the fall for a con."

One reason Wilcox County stays broke is because people steal.

That is not in any way meant to take away from the gross mismanagement we’ve come to call normal, but theft happens too often and audits are too few.

The latest sin to slither out of the courthouse emerged when the bank called retiring Probate Judge Jerry Boggan and informed him that funds were not sufficient for the checks that were being presented.

Now I don’t know, but I would think that in that very moment, the Honorable and kind Judge Boggan may have fainted.

There’s some history.

Some nasty history I hate to bring up because it is in the past.

It is lumped in with a lot of other not so long ago ugly history that Wilcox County is – more or less – trying to get beyond. In 1999, Judge Boggan was removed from office – with pay as the law states – by the Court of Judiciary after being found guilty of depositing $23,000 from the Probate Office account to his personal account. He then gave the appearance of returning the money with a false deposit ticket.

He was found guilty.

He was ordered to pay restitution.

And then the very next year, in 2000, Wilcox County voters put Judge Boggan right back in as Probate Judge where he patiently remains today, awaiting the runoff election set for July 17, that will begin his countdown to the sweet freedom of retirement.

But I still think he would have welcomed a couple of Tums and a sniff of whiskey when the bank called about the latest shortage in the Probate account.

Judge Boggan approached the County Commission with the matter at last week’s meeting. Chief Probate Clerk, Shekita Jenkins, a resident of Camden, allegedly wrote a check to herself for just over $12,234. She cashed the check in Thomasville.

Two other checks totaling $5,985.94 were written to made-up names.

Jenkins has been placed on suspension. This case continues under state investigation and audits are still ongoing.

Jenkins had been out on leave recovering after having a tummy tuck along with liposuction to her abdomen, flanks, upper and lower bra rolls, and inner thighs. According to a post on Jenkins’ Facebook page, her procedures totaled $14,250, and were performed by Dr. Curves in Atlanta.

Her surgery was a known fact to her co-workers and around town, but when the news of theft allegations became public, Jenkins became angry and commented under the article to me personally saying, “I will not take the fall for a con.”

She eluded in other comments to Judge Boggan, possibly because of his well-known past transgressions.

But due to his past, paired with his being on his way out of office…maybe another con could be conning us.

Jenkins has since deleted her Facebook account.

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