ATLANTA — The guilty plea by a former top Atlanta city official puts the brother of former Mayor Kasim Reed back onstage in a federal corruption investigation.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Richard Belcher says Tracy Reed's behavior has been the subject of our reporting for at least eight years.
The latest revelation about Tracy Reed came when the city's contract compliance director pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax fraud.
Channel 2 Action News learned then that Larry Scott had hidden his interest in a company in which Tracy Reed and his wife also had an interest.
When Scott pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, Reed wasn't mentioned, but his name was in the air because the company that got Scott in trouble was organized by him and Tracy Reed's wife, Crystal Reed, in early 2011.
At the time, Tracy Reed was still working in the same politically sensitive city office as Scott: contract compliance.
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Reed remained with the city for another nine months until he got stopped in a city car while he had an outstanding arrest warrant.
A police major let Tracy Reed drive away despite the warrant.
The major got a 15-day suspension, and Tracy Reed quit his city job.
But the revelations about Tracy Reed didn't stop.
It turns out Reed had been driving a city car home at nights and on weekends in violation of city policy.
An investigation by Channel 2 Action News revealed that the car was repeatedly refueled using the name of a former city employee, Estee Andrews.
“From what I’ve seen, they're continuously using my number to refuel vehicles, even after I’m not there anymore,” Andrews said.
Mayor Kasim Reed's office admitted that Andrea Boone, now a City Council member but then in charge of constituent services, ignored the city policy that required Tracy Reed to sign out the vehicle.
Later, Channel 2 Action News discovered a massive unpaid water bill on a home owned by Crystal Reed.
As of April 2017, the outstanding bill was nearly $8,900. The bill had not been paid in full since October 2008.
At the time, a spokesman for Kasim Reed blamed the water bill on a tenant but said the mayor's brother would pay it himself. Belcher has filed a request for those records.
Channel 2 was unable to reach Tracy Reed for comment after Scott pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Reed has not been charged in the federal investigation.
Cox Media Group
