A former supervisor with the State Road and Tollway Authority has been indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of Computer Trespass, two counts of Theft by Taking, and two counts of Forgery in the Fourth Degree.
A Fulton County Grand Jury indicted Shamira Brown earlier this month. Brown was employed by SRTA as a back office supervisor with duties of processing toll violation payments received from violators.
In August of 2019, SRTA discovered that Brown had taken a money order sent to SRTA for payment of a toll violation and altered it to make herself the payee. A subsequent investigation revealed that Brown had deposited at least twelve money orders totaling $315.39 intended to pay toll violations to SRTA into her personal account. To conceal the thefts, Brown altered data in the SRTA computer network in an attempt to remove data related to the toll violations. At no time were Peach Pass customer accounts affected.
SRTA operates tolled transportation facilities within Georgia and manages the collection of tolls on Georgia’s Express Lane System through the use of Peach Pass, the state’s all-electronic tolling technology. Individuals who use Express Lanes without a Peach Pass transponder are sent violation notices for the unpaid tolls and administrative fees.
At least thirteen of the fifteen charges are felony offenses which are punishable by a year or more in prison.
The case was initially referred to the Office of the State Inspector General by SRTA. OIG Investigators Richard Schneider and Roy Williamson led the investigation, and Assistant Attorney General Blair McGowan is prosecuting the case.
