If you are an employee of the Columbus Consolidated Government and suspect fraud, waste, and abuse, you are encouraged to call the city’s anonymous whistleblower hotline at 706-225-4610.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — A member of the Columbus Consolidated Government’s internal auditor’s office was formally recognized for her role in discovering an $8 million theft of taxpayers’ money.

Hometown hero and forensic auditor Elizabeth Barfield was honored by a resolution from city council on January 3, 2023. The council expressed their deep appreciation for her service and dedication to the citizens of Columbus, Georgia.

Barfield first began working in the office of the internal auditor in December 2016 and was tasked with performing internal audits on every department within CCG, including transitional audits for every department head and elected official.

It was during one of those transitional audits that Barfield discovered the enormous crime.

While conducting a transitional audit of the Clerk of Superior Court’s Office in 2019, Barfield discovered serious financial crimes that appeared to be committed by a then-current employee of the office. Millions of dollars that should have been someplace, weren't. 

Wasting no time, Barfield began investigating immediately. 

For the next two years, Barfield worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to get to the bottom of the multimillion-dollar crimes. 

Throughout that investigation, it was discovered that the employee had been siphoning money out of the Clerk of Superior Court’s Office over the course of several years. Roughly $8 million had been robbed from the office’s coffers by the employee with the help of several accomplices. 

Barfield then continued to work with both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office to bring the criminals to justice. Serving as a subject matter expert, Barfield was able to quickly and efficiently find and explain complicated financial concepts to the authorities to help develop the criminal case and prosecution. 

According to a press release from Danielle F. Forté, the Clerk of Superior Court for Muscogee County, Demps and his accomplices were stealing money that law enforcement confiscated from criminals. Demps then covered his tracks through fraud:

“He systematically siphoned off money,” Forté said, “diverting it to his own personal use and then covered up the theft by using fraudulent bank transfers and checks to others, where he would then receive a kick back. Demps stole cash from law enforcements' condemnation accounts and used the stolen funds for his own personal gains.”

Thanks to Barfield’s hard work, expertise, and dedication to public service, the criminals were successfully prosecuted and brought to justice. The now-former employee, Willie Demps, was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after he admitted to the crimes. Five others were also convicted and sentenced for their roles in the crimes. 

We at the Muckraker would like to sincerely thank Elizabeth Barfield for her outstanding contributions to our community — not only for her work mentioned above, but for the work her office performs each and every day. Our city’s transparency depends on your office. Job well done.

For more detail, you can watch the full exchange during the council meeting through the video below, which begins at the 1:06:33-mark:

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If you are an employee of the Columbus Consolidated Government and suspect fraud, waste, and abuse, you are encouraged to call the city’s anonymous whistleblower hotline at 706-225-4610.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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