Former Fannin County Tax Commissioner Shirley Ann Sosebee has been sentenced to serve at least 90 days and up to 120 days in jail and five years on probation.
She was also fined $6,355 and must meet other terms of a negotiated plea approved by Superior Court Judge James E. Cornwell Jr.
Sosebee appeared before the judge in a Fannin County courtroom Monday, August 8.
She was to report to the Fannin County jail Friday, August 12, to await her sentence in a Probation Detention Center to begin, according to Cornwell’s sentencing order signed the same day as Sosebee’s hearing.
Under the plea agreement, Sosebee pled guilty to Forgery in the First Degree and Violation of Oath by a Public Officer. She received five years probation and a $6,355 fine on the forgery charge and five years probation on the oath of officer charge to run concurrently with the other five years.
Charges of Malpractice, Malfeasance or Malfeasance in Office, and Theft by Deception were nol. pros., according to court records.
Other terms of probation deny Sosebee’s right to hold public office while on probation, she is to pay off all loans and resolve any liens on the George Curtis Road property involved, and to pay all legal and filing fees associated with restoration of the deed and title associated with that property to Raymond White. The sentence acknowledged that all restitution listed had been met and paid in full.
Sosebee was sentenced under first offender status.
Sosebee was first elected tax commissioner in 2012.
She was arrested March 5, 2020, on warrants charging her with Forgery in the First Degree and Violation of Oath by a Public Officer. Those warrants accused her of forging the signature of Raymond White Jr., on a single document between November 6 and November 8, 2019. Authorities identified White as Sosebee’s brother.
After a brief inquiry into a complaint filed by the victim, the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office turned the complaint over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Fannin County Sheriff Dane Kirby said at the time the brief inquiry “determined the complaint against the tax commissioner did not involve the operations of the tax commissioner’s office, but involved personal, family business.”
The original warrants were sworn out by the GBI.
Sosebee was released under a $10,000 bond the same day as her arrest. Bond conditions included prohibiting her access to the tax commissioner’s office.
At the time, Sosebee had just announced her candidacy to seek a third term as tax commissioner, but withdrew from the race following her arrest.
She was later indicted by a Fannin County Grand Jury on the two original charges plus charges of Malfeasance or Misfeasance in Office, and Theft by Deception, according to reports at the time.