Burke County sheriff releases receipts after spending allegations

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Burke County Sheriff’s Office released the transaction details from the credit card commissioners say they did not authorize.

Receipts file:

In a letter, Sheriff Williams says access to the credit cards allows them to be active in the community and meet “normal obligations.”

Full Letter:

After an audit took a deeper look at how Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams was spending money, he came in to give his side.

We sat down with him for a one-on-one interview to see what he has to say.

Williams says the county started looking into his spending six months ago. A new audit accuses Williams of spending over $200,000 on a credit card county commissioners say they did not authorize.

Williams says he has done nothing illegal and believes this is about who has control over the money in the county and how it gets spent.

“I think it’s I’m young and Black, and they don’t want a Black man to be in control of money and spending. I hate to equate it to that,” said Williams.

Williams says he doesn’t want to assume that’s the case but wouldn’t be surprised if this is the reason the county initially looked into his spending. According to the audit, Williams spent $41,000 on travel accommodations, restaurants, food, and at retail stores.

FULL INTERVIEW:

“I charge you to sit down and look at the expenditures and find anything that is just lavish and out of order for government employees. There’s nothing there. It’s travel. It’s meals,” he said.

Also in the audit, Williams is accused of spending thousands of dollars in county money on community events.

“You have to have relationships and partnerships. I am creating those, and I’m creating them across the country because it helps our profession,” he said.

When it comes to detailed receipts on his spending, Williams says he had statements but should not have assumed that would be enough.

“We thought that having the statements with date, time, amount purchased, and location was sufficient, but we should have kept the original receipts which will detail what was bought,” said Williams.

He says they have found almost 100 percent of these receipts, and they will be released by the end of Monday.

Moving forward, he says he already has built trust over his last six years in office, so he isn’t worried about people no longer having his back.

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