(The Center Square) – Federal charges of money laundering and theft are included in a six-count indictment of a county Superior Court clerk in Tennessee.
In Shelby County, Tamara Sawyer is accused of using more than $44,000 in county procurement funds and other means to purchase alcohol, food and other goods through web-based services.
Other charges were made to the Memphis Tigers, FedExForum, fundraisers and PayPal accounts, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Sawyer said the expenses were related to business, but many were made on weekends or holidays, the department said.
“Public servants are entrusted by all of us to act in the best interests of the public they serve,” said Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly of the FBI Nashville Field Office. “As alleged, the defendant brazenly abused her authority as a General Sessions Court Clerk to steal taxpayer dollars to serve herself.”
Sawyer is charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering; theft concerning programs receiving federal funds; honest services wire fraud; money laundering and interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises. The charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or both, if Sawyer is convicted, according to the Justice Department.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from Sawyer’s lawyer.
Shelby County Republicans called for Sawyer’s resignation in October after she was caught in a tirade with deputies.
State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, and others shared a video of the incident.
“After General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer allegedly attempted to facilitate getting a firearm into the Shelby County Courthouse for her ‘private security,’ the Shelby County Sheriffs rightfully stopped the individual with the gun,” Taylor said in a post on social media. “What followed was an absolute embarrassment: Sawyer erupted in a tirade, screaming racial epithets and degrading the officers who were simply enforcing the law and protecting the public by preventing an armed private citizen from entering the courthouse at 140 Adams Ave.”
In the video, Sawyer said she needed private security due to threats. Her language included “white supremacist” and expletives.
Sawyer, in the video shared by Taylor, said, “Talking about killing me dead in the street. You want to know why I have security? Because I’m the one getting threatened.”
She tied the video’s release to the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis in an interview with a local news station.
“I want to take a second to apologize to Shelby County that this is a distraction from the fact that the National Guard will be here,” Sawyer told the television station.
