A judge sentenced former DeKalb County, Georgia Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton to three years’ probation Tuesday for extortion, WSBTV reported.
Barnes Sutton was convicted in November of two counts of extortion, having successfully sought monthly payments in 2014 while serving as DeKalb County commissioner from the owner of an engineering consulting company subcontracting on a $10 million wastewater treatment project contract award she had approved, according to her May 2019 federal indictment. She separately took a $5,000 cash bribe from an FBI confidential source, according to a Justice Department press release.
Barnes Sutton ultimately lost a 2016 Democratic primary runoff election to current DeKalb County Commissioner Steve Bradshaw, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her crimes were punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but the judge gave her the three-year probation sentence including nine months of home confinement and a $3,200 fine, according to WSBTV.
“I am ashamed to be here in court,” Barnes Sutton said Tuesday, the outlet reported. “I never imagined in my life that I would be in a criminal trial accused of doing something wrong.”
Barnes Sutton’s attorney did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
