On Friday, May 18, 2012, a Fulton County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Eugene B. Wimby, Jr. for fraudulently collecting his father’s retirement benefits from the Teachers’ Retirement System of Georgia (TRS) after his father’s death.

The defendant is the son of TRS retiree and former principal of East Atlanta High School, Eugene B. Wimby, Sr. In July of 1982, Wimby, Sr. began receiving retirement benefits. Commencing in 1988, his monthly benefits were electronically transferred into his checking account with Bank of America. In October 2007, Wimby, Sr. appointed his son, Wimby, Jr., as his attorney-in-fact vis-à-vis that checking account.

It is alleged that Wimby, Jr. failed to disclose his father’s death on September 26, 2008, to TRS. The indictment alleges that between October 2008 and November 2009, Wimby, Jr. stole $53,525.95 in TRS funds from Wimby, Sr.’s checking account. He accomplished the theft by transferring the TRS funds into into his own checking or business accounts or by directly withdrawing the funds. TRS continued paying retirement benefits until it discovered Sr.’s death in November 2009 via a mortality report.

Wimby, Jr. was charged with 14 counts of Theft by Taking (O.C.G.A. § 16-8-2), a felony punishable by a maximum of ten years in prison and up to a $100,000.00 fine for each count.

Assistant Attorney General Shepard Orlow is prosecuting the case on behalf of the State of Georgia. The case was investigated by Agent Rocky Bigham of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.