Lumpkin County Coroner Candidate Arrested

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Lumpkin County Coroner candidate Amanda Jones-Holbrooks was arrested Thursday and charged with forging her ex-husband’s signature on a quit-claim deed transferring land he owns to her.

Jones-Holbrooks, who goes by the name Amanda Jones in her campaign for coroner, turned herself in to Lumpkin County authorities at 7:20 a.m. and was released on $5,000 bail. She declined to comment, but referred all questions to her attorney Andrea Conarro.

Jones-Holbrooks did post a comment about the incident on her facebook page, asking that the community respect her privacy. “My family is dealing with custody and civil matters initiated by my former in laws, for which I have hired counsel. I regret that these civil matters are being turned into a political play and posted on social media.”

The charge against Jones-Holbrooks, however, is not a civil matter. First-degree forgery is a felony crime punishable by not less than one nor more than 10 years in prison.

Jones-Holbrook’s ex-husband Ricky Edmondson, Jr. filed the complaint against her and the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and Lumpkin County District Attorney’s office determined there was probable cause for her arrest.

Edmondson told Fetch Your News, “I did not sign a quit claim deed. I only learned about the quit claim deed when I attempted to transfer ownership of the land to my parents and my attorney Angela Clark discovered the land was now in my ex-wife’s name.”

Edmondson said the notary who witnessed the quit claim deed, Johnathan Fitzpatrick, stated that Edmondson personally appeared before him on Sept. 24, 2015. “That’s not true. I was in Murphy, N.C. on that day,” Edmondson said.

Jones-Holbrooks is one of two candidates involved in the July 26 runoff. Her opponent is Jim Sheppard, a veteran law enforcement officer who is retiring after 28 years with the DeKalb County Police Department.

This is not Jones-Holbrooks first brush with the law. She was arrested in Lumpkin County in 2000 for obstructing a peace officer and in again in 2007 when she was charged with deposit account fraud/bad checks.