5 Lawyers & Former Court Clerk Defending N.C. Ticket-Tampering Case
A ex-prosecutor and former deputy court clerk in Johnston County, N.C., are facing charges along with four defense lawyers in an alleged ticket-tampering scheme.
A county grand jury today indicted former assistant district attorney Cyndi Jaeger on 81 misdemeanor counts of failure to perform duty of office, reports WRAL.
She previously was charged in March with three felony counts of obstruction of justice. At the same time, former deputy court clerk Portia Snead and defense lawyers Lee Hatch, Chad Lee, Jack McLamb and Vann Sauls were accused of obstructing justice by altering court records and knowingly using illegal forms in dismissing traffic cases against 37 individuals, according to the station and the Raleigh News & Observer.
All six defendants reportedly attended a court hearing today, but declined to comment, the station reports.
After Jaeger left her job in 2007, forms with her signature allegedly were used to dismiss cases on which the four other lawyers worked. The claimed scheme came to light after the district attorney asked for an investigation into the county’s high percentage of dismissed drunken driving cases compared to other North Carolina counties.
Earlier coverage:
WRAL: “Ticket-fixing case involved some with previous DWIs”
