Clayton News Daily

Tracy Lynn Meredith

A Clayton County Sheriff's Office bookkeeper is on administrative leave, pending a formal termination, after she allegedly confessed, Monday, to stealing thousands of dollars from bond accounts.

Just before 11 a.m., Tuesday, Tracy Lynn Meredith, 40, of Stockbridge, bonded out of the jail where she worked for more than two years, avoiding a 1:30 p.m., first appearance hearing.

Meredith faces eight counts of felony theft conversion.

Meredith was hired Sheriff Kem Kimbrough shortly after he took office in January 2009. She processed paperwork for bonds that were going from the jail to the City of Forest Park, according to a Magistrate Court arrest warrant application.

She reportedly told a sheriff's investigator that she stole about $6,000 from April 7, to April 21, to cover everyday living expenses, and that she does not have any of the money left.

Kimbrough said, Tuesday, he is disappointed, but committed to upholding the law.

"It is always sad when one of our employees falls short of the standards we expect in the performance of their duties," he said. "My commitment, however, is to identify and correct that misconduct as swiftly as possible, and to prosecute, whenever necessary, those who abuse my, and the public's, trust."

Meredith is the second of Kimbrough's employees to be arrested in less than two months. His former spokeswoman, Deputy Alicia Nicole Parkes, was arrested in March for eavesdropping and obstruction of an officer.

An indictment alleges that Parkes illegally recorded a female colleague using a courthouse bathroom.