the NEWS May 2, 2015
Volume 7, Issue 3
$1
rockdalenews.com
Keep Your Head in the Game
MOTHER’S DAY CONTEST WINNER PAGE 7
Serving Rockdale County and Conyers
‘I don’t have the money to pay you’ Probate judge recording captures concerns over finishing first term, affair By Michelle Kim
mkim@rockdalenews.com
Salem High School’s Thespian Troupe 5120 kept its head in the game and pumped up the school spirit with Disney’s “High School Musical,” staged April 23-26 at Salem High School. More photos at http:// ezellsstudios.com (Photos courtesy of Ezell’s Studios)
A tape released online of a conversation between Probate Judge Charles K. Mays Sr. and Freya Pearson, the woman who is suing Mays for more than $20,000 in alleged backpay, reveals that Mays acknowledged her services but said he didn’t have enough money to pay her and expressed concerns he might not be able to finish his first term. The secretly recorded conversation also referenced an affair between the two. The conversation was allegedly taped on August 8, 2014, before Pearson filed a warrant application in October seeking an arrest for alleged theft of services of more than $24,000 for hours worked from February to June in Probate Court setting up a veteran’s or mental health accountability court. Mays had reportedly been told earlier in the year that such a court was not technically feasible within Probate Court. Pearson did receive about $2,000 through a temp agency for her court work and a one-time $2,500 payment from the county. In the conversation, Mays outright tells Pearson, “I don’t have the money or the wherewithal to pay you for your services. That’s what causes me to step back. That’s it in a nutshell.” Pearson said she didn’t agree with that assessment. “In my mind, if you have money to hire another person, you can pay me,” she said, referencing a Probate Court job offer to Deborah Anderson. “Just that simple. If you’re willing to argue with Roselyn (Miller, the county Finance Director) over money to hire somebody, you should be willing to do the same battle for me for work I’ve already done.” Mays replied, “But see, the thing is, other people haven’t had the background that you have. So they’re not going to come after me, so to speak… the way that you have spoken and said things.” He also said, “It’s not that I’m battling for them. It’s just that they’re working into whatever plan I’m in at that time.” Mays later said, “The monies that you were paid and the invoices, I did have to battle for that… And
See JUDGE on PAGE 9
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