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Former prosecutor gets probation
Worked for ex-DA Madison
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A judge who viewed a former Banks County prosecutor as a victim spared him from serving time behind bars in connection with a theft scheme that netted former District Attorney Tim Madison six years in prison.

Anthony Brett Williams, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor extortion in Banks County Superior Court Tuesday, said Russ Willard, a spokesman for Attorney General Thurbert Baker, whose office prosecuted the case.

In a negotiated plea agreement, prosecutors dropped more serious felony charges of theft by taking and violation of oath of office, Willard said.

Williams was sentenced by Senior Superior Court Judge Robert Mallis to 12 months of probation, ordered to pay a $500 fine and perform 50 hours of community service.

Williams served as an assistant district attorney under Madison in 2006 when Madison ordered him to take two salaries of $50,000 – one paid by the state, the other by Banks County.

Williams was instructed to keep $1,000 of the county pay each month as a salary supplement and put the remainder into what Madison called a “training account.”

Prosecutors said Banks County commissioners were unaware Williams was already being paid by the state and that Madison stole taxpayer money through the arrangement. Madison spent county money on a $7,000 motorcycle and various other expenses, including $2,400 in sailing lessons on Lake Lanier, prosecutors said.

During a March 4 sentencing hearing, the judge told Madison that his use of an employee in the scheme was his most egregious act. Mallis said Madison “destroyed the career of a young lawyer.”

Willard said it would be up to the State Bar of Georgia whether Williams would be able to retain his license to practice law. Williams left the district attorney’s office to work for the state attorney general but resigned the position before he was indicted.

Madison’s wife, Linn Jones Madison, remains the lone co-defendant whose case has not yet been adjudicated. She is expected to enter a guilty plea April 18.

Prosecutors said Linn Jones Madison defrauded the taxpayers by claiming she worked hours as a victim-witness assistant when she was on trips in Florida and on a gambling boat in Brunswick.