Indictment: Former GBI agent spent more than $60K on illegal purchases

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A grand jury indicted a former high-ranking Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent that authorities say made hundreds of personal purchases using her state-issued credit card and then went to elaborate lengths to cover it up.

“She is an absolute embarrassment to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, to the law enforcement profession, GBI Director Vernon Keenan said about former agent Sandra Putnam.

Putnam's work played a part in some big indictments as she climbed the career ladder to become one of the GBI's highest ranking supervisors, but now she has been indicted on charges of racketeering

“(There are) 670 separate criminal acts that make up that part of the indictment,” Keenan told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.

Charges include violation of oath after an investigation by former colleagues at the GBI and the state inspector general's office went to the Georgia attorney general's office for prosecution.

“We aggressively investigated this. She greatly harmed the state of Georgia,” Keenan said.

Keenan said Putnam, who resigned as an inspector, surrendered last year after at least one arrest warrant was issued.

The indictment indicates grand jurors accused Putnam of engaging in a scheme “using GBI P-cards provided to herself and other GBI employees to make unauthorized purchases of goods and services for the personal benefit of herself or others.”

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“The other members of the GBI had no knowledge of what was going on and did not participate in her criminal acts,” Keenan told Winne.

The indictment accuses her of reconciling P-card transactions through submitting altered receipts.

Keenan said while one count suggests Putnam allegedly committed 195 offenses of theft by taking in connection with one GBI P-card, there are dozens of other transactions involving other cards.

“We have completely restructured how we handle approvals for the Visa card purchases,” Keenan said.

The indictment said “through her pattern of racketeering activity, the accused did acquire and maintain approximately $60,268.04 in goods and services.”

Putnam’s attorney Mario Ninfo told Winne that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. He said the indictment is just a formal charge.

Ninfo told Winne he could not truthfully answer how Putnam will plead at arraignment until he sees what the state has.

Only Channel 2 Action News was at Putnam's home in August 2016 as agents removed what auditors suspect were illegally purchased items.

Putnam has worked with the GBI as the special agent in charge of the Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, and later as an inspector in the Investigative Division.

Cox Media Group