The Georgia attorney general's office has joined an investigation of a sexual assault center in Fort Oglethorpe.
A former employee of the Sex Assault Victim Advocacy Center has accused center officials of lying on applications to get grant funding from state agencies. The employee told investigators that Katie Logan, the center's director, lied about hosting at least one community outreach event that never actually happened in order to get funding.
The Georgia Office of the Inspector General began investigating the center in February. Last month, the IG's office asked investigators with the attorney general's office to begin looking into the case as well.
Logan did not return multiple calls seeking comment Wednesday. But in March, she told the Times Free Press that the allegation against her office didn't hold weight.
The former employee said Logan credited her in required paperwork with teaching a dating safety class last year. The employee said that class never happened. Logan told the Times Free Press that the employee did teach dating safety, and that Logan sat in on that particular class.
"Basically, that class was taught," Logan said in March. "So that's all covered. There's really not an issue."
Inspector General Deborah Wallace said asking the attorney general's office for help will allow more investigators to look at the case.
"That doesn't mean there's a 90 percent chance of prosecution in this," Wallace said. "But I can tell you that (the attorney general's investigators) have enough interest that there is a warranted need for them to be looking in conjunction with us. It gives our office a little more power."
Unlike investigators with the inspector general's office, Wallace said, those of the attorney general's office can subpoena witnesses, such as Logan and members of the sex assault center's board. The attorney general's office also can apply for search warrants.
When the two offices collaborate, usually they are looking into criminal, white-collar fraud cases. Wallace said she could not provide specific details about the Fort Oglethorpe sex assault center because the case is still active.
According to a March 2014 filing, the center received $38,000 from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and $34,000 from the Governor's Office for Children and Families. To receive the funding, the center's employees must document classes and other community awareness events that they host.
The Office for Children and Families gave the sex assault center money in five installments. To get the fourth $6,800 installment, the center had to host nine community awareness events in three months.
In addition to the safe dating class, at least two other events are under scrutiny. In February 2014, according to the sex assault center's grant application, the group taught a class at an alternative school in Catoosa County. But the county's school spokeswoman said the office does not have a record of the sex assault group giving a special presentation to any local school.
Also, the center's grant application shows its employees appeared at the Dade County Collaborative in March 2014. But the Dade County Collaborative didn't host an event that month.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6476.