Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
DeKalb Official Surrenders
DECATUR -- A top aide to DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones surrendered late Friday afternoon to face charges that he held a 19-year-old woman last month against her will at a Dunwoody hotel.
Lance Robertson, deputy chief of staff to Jones, turned himself in around 4:30 p.m. at DeKalb police headquarters. A magistrate judge issued the warrant earlier this week after the unidentified woman contacted police.
Robertson was placed on administrative
eave Aug. 2 after the Jonesboro woman leveled the accusations. The warrant charges Robertson with false imprisonment.
On Friday, Ann Kimbrough, the chief of staff for Jones, said Robertson, wh
o had been drawing his $70,000 salary while on leave, has been suspended wit
hout pay.
"Neither the CEO nor I condone any employee who does not immediately surrender to law enforcement when arrest warrants have been issued by the courts," she said in a written statement. "We encourage Lance Robertson to surrender to law enforcement authorities and resolve his matters in a court of law."
An attorney for Robertson, Beverly J. Taylor, has denied the allegations. Jones declined to comment about the arrest warrant during a press conference Thursday where he addressed the death of the county attorney.
Robertson, 41, has worked in the Jones administration since he took office in 2001. He oversees the administration's constituent services, community affairs and publi
c and media relations efforts.
According to a police report, the woman told investigators that she had met the man July 30 during a concert at the W Hotel near Perimeter Mall.
The w
oman
told police the man bought her drinks before she blacked out. According to the report, the woman woke up naked lying ne
xt to Robertson, who was also naked.
She called police the next day after a supervisor encouraged her to seek medical treatment, according to the report.
The warrant listed Robertson's address as a condominium near Turner Field in southeast Atlanta, where police were looking for him late Thursday. The condo is co-owned by Jones, according to Fulton County tax records.
No on answered the door when Channel 2 Action News went to the home Thursday.
Robertson has been in trouble before.
According to police reports, the man was arrested in 1999 for shoplifting from a DeKalb Kroger grocery store. According to a report in the Atlanta Jour
nal-Constitution, Robertson was charged with misdemeanor theft by shoplifting.
The newspaper reported that he pleaded no contest and was ordered to serve community service and probati
on.
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br>**************
Lance????? What an appropriate name for a spearchucker, but I'm sure the young negress in question has a different idea a
bout his name.
Reference:
Vernon Jones
T.N.B.