A publisher and reporter at an Alabama newspaper have been arrested and accused of illegally disclosing grand jury information about the local school district.
Atmore News Publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher were arrested on Oct. 27 by deputies from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. A Facebook post by the newspaper said that they were released on bonds of $10,000.
According to the post: “The charges against Digmon, also the District 6 representative on the Escambia County Board of Education, and Fletcher stem from an article published in the October 25 edition of Atmore News” about an investigation into “the possible misallocation or misappropriation of federal Covid money paid to seven former school system employees.
“That edition also contained a sidebar article reporting that Digmon’s phone and the phone of District 4 school board member Cindy Jackson had been seized by sheriff’s deputies, who served search warrants against the two, each of whom voted against a new contract for Superintendent of Education Michele McClung.”
Atmore News photo |
The Atmore News also reported that Veronica “Ashley” Fore, the county school system’s payroll and insurance bookkeeper, was arrested on similar charges, though the report stated “the reasons behind Fore’s arrest were not known.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “The charge of revealing grand jury secrets is a felony under Alabama Criminal Code Section 12-16-215, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ, and carries a penalty of between one to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000.”
In August, police officers raided the offices of the Marion County Record in Kansas and seized computers and other materials such as cell phones, accusing the newspaper of identity theft and unlawful use of a computer. The raid attracted national and international attention and was condemned by many journalists and free press advocates.
No comments:
Post a Comment