Most people know Demorest for its beautiful Piedmont College Campus, but now it may be known as a place for embezzlement.

Every year the accounting firm of Amos, Maney, and Payne LLC performs a yearly financial audit for the Demorest City Government. We caught up with their office, and they told us that it was an audit of last year’s books that they found the missing money.

City Manager/Clerk Juanita Crumley said she couldn’t comment because of the ongoing investigation, but she did say who was conducting the forensic audit.

It’s being handled by David Sawyer from the Frazier and Deeter firm in Alpharetta.

A forensic audit basically entails sifting through ALL financial transactions (no matter how small) for a given period. It can take awhile.

We tried reaching Sawyer, and his return message was a “no comment,” citing the ongoing investigation.

We also called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They told me that they were called on July 31 by the Demorest Police and the Mountain Judicial Circuit Court to work the case.

Still, the taxpayers are out over $200,000, and nobody knows when–or if–they’ll get it back.