Chatham County Superior Court case manager Velvelyn Scarborough today left the Chatham County jail on a $10,000 bond with strict convictions on a charge of attempt or conspiracy to violate state drug laws.
Scarborough, 34, was granted bond by Chatham County State Court Judge Gregory V. Sapp, sitting in for a Superior Court judge, earlier and will be banned from the Chatham County Court House except for scheduled court appearances and barred from contacting witnesses or defendants in a large-scale drug conspiracy that led to her arrest.
She made bond about 1:30 p.m., said Gena Bilbo, director of public information for the sheriff's department.
Assistant District Attorney Noah Abrams told Sapp during a monring bond hearing that Scarborough had "abused a position of trust with the court and put lives at risk" by her conduct. He also told Sapp that she had plans for a vacation in Aruba and once she left the jurisdiction might not return.
Defense Attorney Greg Crawford urged Sapp to set a "reasonable" bond explaining "she's a woman of modest means." He said Scarborough does not now, nor has she ever, had a passport, and that any reference to Aruba was simply her going online to look at the site.
The warrant, executed on Friday, charges Scarborough, with “attempt or conspiracy to commit drug-related offense” on Jan. 3, a charge that Crawford argued is bondable. It is on a Recorder’s Court form but with the Recorder’s name scratched through and "Superior" printed underneath.
Scarborough, a warrant clerk in the Superior Court administrator’s office, was arrested on Friday morning and her office at the courthouse was searched, her computer seized and her home in the 1100 block of East 67th Street searched — all by Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics team members on warrants signed by Superior Court Judge Louisa Abbot.
Court Administrator Crystal Taylor Cooper immediately placed her on “investigative suspension without pay.”
She was booked into the jail Friday night and remained there over the weekend.