Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias, facing trial in federal court, posted $5,000, the required 10% of his $50,000 bond, on Aug. 6. Sias was indicted July 7 by a federal grand jury on one count of destroying records and one count of lying to federal investigators.
He appeared in court in the U.S. Southern District of Georgia’s Augusta Office Aug. 4 and pleaded not guilty to the two-count federal indictment. Sias waived a formal reading of the indictment before he entered the not guilty plea.
MORE: Sias Pleads Not Guilty, Released On Bond
Magistrate Judge Brian Epps set several conditions on Sias’ release on bond. The terms include Sias surrendering his passport, no travel outside the court’s boundaries, to not possess any firearms and observe a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Sias must also have no contact with any of the victims or witnesses involved in the case.
Sias is continuing to serve on the Augusta Commission pending a decision by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who has the authority to remove him from office.
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On July 26, Kemp named Attorney General Christopher Carr, Jefferson County Commissioner Johnny Davis and Georgetown-Quitman County Commissioner Carvel Lewis to review the indictment and decide if Sias should be suspended from office. The review commission has until Aug. 13 to make a recommendation to the governor.
Sias faces up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if convicted.
The charges against Sias follow an August 2019 raid at his home that resulted in investigators seizing computers and boxes of documents connected to alleged corruption related to his management of the city-owned Jamestown Community Center.
MORE: Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias Indicted
Augusta commissioners requested the investigation following accusations made in a letter from a woman claiming to be Sais’ ex-lover. The woman, Willa Hilton, also worked for Sias at the community center.
Hilton alleged that Sias drank alcohol, packed a firearm, verbally abused summer campers and watched porn on the job. She also accused the commissioner of having his hands in the taxpayers’ till. According to Hilton’s letter, Sias submitted forged invoices for repair work at the center that were paid out of SPLOST funds. He is also alleged to have written himself checks payable to “cash” out of those same tax funds.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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