More financial charges brought in Wilson case
Mid-afternoon Friday, April 29, former superintendent Carlton Wilson and his wife Cindy Wilson were taken into custody for financial charges that relate to their involvement with Appalachian Gun Range where they are co-owners.
In addition to one count of Theft by Deception and six counts of Theft by Taking brought against Mr. Wilson the week prior, he has now been charged with Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Mrs. Wilson has also been charged with Violation of the RICO Act. These are the first charges brought against Mrs. Wilson.
Bond has not been set for either Mr. or Mrs. Wilson at this time, but Pickens Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division Capt. John Cagle said the Georgia Office of the Attorney General is working on it. The Wilsons remain in custody at the Pickens Adult Detention Center.
Pickens Sheriff’s investigators executed a search warrant at the couple’s residence in Arbor Hills the same afternoon they were taken into custody.
According to the Pickens Sheriff’s affidavit, dated April 21, 2022, the Wilsons ran day-to-day operations of the range. Mr. Wilson was the primary firearms instructor, and Mrs. Wilson helped manage the range’s finances. The sheriff’s document states that on seven instances Mrs. Wilson wrote checks from the Appalachian Gun Range’s account to either herself or Mr. Wilson, and that they were deposited into a joint banking account for personal use. Those checks range from $1,329 to $21,972 and total over $60,000.
On five occasions, Mrs. Wilson also had a company called Georgia Brass write checks to her that should have been written to the gun range, according to the documents. The company purchases shells and casings from gun ranges. These checks ranged from $1,278 to $4,063 and total over $12,115.
The affidavit goes on to state that the Wilsons kept all cash proceeds from the business during 2021 as well, totaling over $40,000. The document then outlines an event on April 20, 2022, when Mrs. Wilson came to the gun range carrying a black canvass bag and went into the office. She asked an employee of Appalachian Gun & Pawn, a different business in the same building as the range, to call one of the range co-owners George Weaver Jr. and arrange a meeting with her. Mrs. Wilson is then seen on the surveillance camera system inside the office obstructing the view of the camera by placing two “screen-type mats in front of the camera, which was in the corner of the room near the ceiling. She then empties the contents of the black bag into a file drawer and said the bag contained $41,000,” the affidavit states.
Mrs. Wilson announced the amount to at least one other person who was in the room with her at the time. Range co-owner George Weaver Jr. arrived soon after to meet with Mrs. Wilson, with the employee of the pawn shop also present.
“During the meeting, Cynthia Wilson admits she and Carlton kept all the cash proceeds from the gun range for 2021,” sheriff documents show. “She then offers to give Weaver the $41,000, which he declined. She admitted she knew it was wrong. The conversations between Weaver and Cynthia Wilson were recorded by Weaver.”
Investigators found that no cash was deposited into the Appalachian Gun Range account during 2021. On April 20, 2022, the money that was put in the file drawer safe by Mrs. Wilson was recovered by law enforcement, which determined it to be $42,800.
Appalachian Gun Range co-owners George W. Weaver Jr. and Jenni Weaver have also filed a $1 million civil suit against the couple. The suit was filed in Pickens County Superior Court April 19 at 4:45 p.m., two days before Wilson turned himself into authorities April 21. The suit alleges that Mr. Wilson, in his role as president and CEO of the gun range, and Mrs. Wilson, who served as secretary and treasurer of the range, “appropriated … monetary funds and business opportunities belonging to Appalachian Gun Range …” and “wrongfully profited, personally, from January 2018 to April 2022.” For this, the Weavers are seeking $500,000.
The plaintiffs are also seeking $250,000 from each of the Wilsons for punitive damages against Appalachian Gun Range, as well as attorney fees.
(Note: Appalachian Gun Range is a separate business from Appalachian Gun & Pawn. Both are in the same building, but the owners of Appalachian Gun & Pawn lease the range space to the Weavers and Wilsons).
The six Theft by Taking charges relate to Wilson allegedly selling a piece of land that was donated for use of the Boy Scouts organization in Hill City and transferring the money to a personal account. The Theft by Deception charge relates to Wilson illegally obtaining payroll checks from Pickens County’s shared sick leave bank after he ran out of his own sick leave, “by using deceitful means and failing to report that he was able to work at Appalachian Gun Range.”
The Pickens Sheriff’s affidavit states that Mr. Wilson used the money from both instances to pay for online gambling activities or gambling debts. Wilson turned himself into Pickens investigators Thursday, April 21, for these initial charges, and was bonded out by that afternoon. His bond was set at $5,000.
Attorney for the Wilsons, Scott Poole of Grisham, Poole & Carlile, declined to comment on the case.
Mr. Wilson served as superintendent of Pickens schools from May of 2017 through December of 2019 after a long career in education beginning in 1996 as a middle school principal. His dismissal in 2019 touched off a political firestorm with supporters calling for him to be re-hired.
He had left the school system in 2015 and served as an assistant magistrate judge before being hired as superintendent in 2017.
The investigation into Wilson’s financial malfeasance began after the sheriff’s office received a tip in early March of 2022 that he sold the property intended for the Boy Scouts for his own benefit.
Because Mr. Wilson was on leave with the DA’s office at the time of his initial arrest, the Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office requested assistance from the Georgia Office of the Attorney General. The Attorney General will prosecute the case. The Pickens Sheriff’s Office is in charge of the investigation, which is still underway.
(By Angela Reinhardt, Staff Writer, Pickens Progress)