Pike County Times
The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. You can donate through PayPal at the link on the bottom of the page. Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor(@)pikecountytimes.com
 
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Photo of Billy D. Daniels Sr. courtesy of the Pike County Sheriff's Office.
 
BREAKING NEWS: Racketeering Charges Dismissed Against Veal
By Editor Becky Watts

ZEBULON - Pike County Times received a letter by certified mail on November 21, 2018 from Stephen G. Waldrop of Waldrop and Trite, LLC, the attorney of George Randall Veal, in regard to Mr. Veal's arrest by the Pike County Sheriff's Office in March of this year. The letter requested that a "favorable retraction be printed on the front page with regards to the story you printed on March 20, 2018" and stated that the allegations made against Mr. Veal were "false."

The original article stated from the press release sent to local media as follows: "A total of over $700,000 was found to have been taken in by the two suspects." Attorney Waldrop advised that the criminal arrest warrant for his client "only listed a total of $61,700" and not $700,000. A copy of the warrant and dismissal were sent to Pike County Times as well as a copy of the original article printed on March 20, 2018. [Note from the Editor: The complete, unaltered article is below.]

The final two paragraphs of the letter to Pike County Times read as follows" "Furthermore, if no favorable retraction is printed within 10 business days, Mr. Veal will be pursuing defamation and damages claims against your newspaper, and against you personally."

"The irresponsible misreporting of the basic information in this case (what was published / reported by the police and newspapers versus what my client was actually charged with) gives my client a good faith basis to challenge the "truthful report" statues which shield newspaper from libel claims from information received from Police Authorities."

Pike County Times acknowledged receipt of this information by email from Mr. Veal as well as by mail from Attorney Waldrop. Rather than printing a blanket retraction based on the information that was presented in the letter, Pike County Times investigated this matter and met with both Major David Neal from the Pike County Sheriff's Office and District Attorney Ben Coker to discuss the letter and dismissal. The following is the result from this investigation along with a quote from District Attorney Ben Coker regarding the now dismissed case against Mr. Veal of Milledgeville, Georgia.

Evidence Presented by Attorney Waldrop

According to the Warrant #18-71FW State vs. George Randall Veal, the amount that led to Mr. Veal's arrest was $61,700. The warrant reads as follows: "Inv. Lawson personally makes oath that Georgia Randall Veal did violate OCGA 16-4-14 Violation of The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act when he through a pattern of racketeering activity of proceeds derived there from did acquire directly or indirectly control of money, in that said accused did, between January 21, 2014 and July 2017 did commit the offense of Theft by Conversion when he conspired with Billy Dean Daniels Sr. to obtain United States currency totaling $61,700 through electronic wire transfers sent to Trust Account of George Randall Veal from Robert Weerts, Ronald Thomas Jr. and Mark Hansford. Said transfers were sent for the purpose of funding Hydrotech Enterprises International LLC, a company of which Daniels and Veal were principal officers, and that said funds were converted to the personal use of Veal and Daniels. Daniels operates Hydrotech Enterprises International LLC at his residence located at [actual address is redacted by Pike County Times as is my standard practice] Pike County, Georgia." The warrant stated that probable cause existed for Mr. Veal's arrest.

On September 20, 2018, a dismissal was filed in Pike County Superior Court. It stated that warrant #18-71FW State of Georgia vs. George Randall Veal was dismissed by District Attorney Ben Coker for the following reason: "Insufficient evidence to prove defendant guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt."

The dismissal contained a second paragraph that reads as follows: "This disposition does meet the criteria for the Georgia Crime Information Center to restrict access to the criminal history for this arrest pursuant to OCGA 35-3-37(h)(1)(B). The Clerk of the Court is requested to transit this disposition to GCIC."

Because of the first paragraph, Pike County Times investigated the matter and added this article to let readers know that the case against Mr. Veal has been dismissed. Because of this second paragraph, Pike County Times has removed Mr. Veal's photograph from the article.

Evidence Obtained through Open Records and a Search of Court Records

One set of Open Records information appears to show a group of people who invest in start up projects. There is a letter from an investment group and a series of emails from 2013 and early 2014 that listed a series of banks and the status of various funds and sources related to this investment group's bank account or Mr. Veal's escrow account. A start up engine project was mentioned as well as possible transactions from Belgium, London, Bahamas, and Uzbekistan. An inheritance transaction in London was put on hold on two different occasions with the investment group representative advising that the first hold resulted in a criminal complaint being made and a warrant issued for an arrest of the person who was probating an estate in which the person writing the letter was supposedly a beneficiary.

Other emails directly related to Billy D. Daniels show a business loan in 2015 of $10,000. Another shows a $20,000 loan. Emails regarding this $20,000 loan say that it was needed "to facilitate a $4 Million dollar loan" that would be repaid in the amount of $25,000 within three business days unless the transaction was not completed. If the transaction was not completed, the $20,000 would be repaid within two business days. These emails and copies of checks show that the money placed in Mr. Veal's escrow account was given by check to Billy D. Daniels and was not used by Mr. Veal. This money was for a water project in Texas that the Pike County Sheriff's Office researched and found did not exist.

There is also a series of emails from 2016 where a person loaned $6,700 to Billy D. Daniels, Sr. through the help of Mr. Veal. The money was placed in Mr. Veal's escrow account and written out to Billy D. Daniels, Sr. as part of a "$6.7K Loan for a H20 Project" according to the memo line on the check. The July 6, 2018 Promissory Note stated that the $6,700 will have applicable interest of $13,300 that will be returned to the creditor on July 31, 2016 in the total amount of $20,000 "which represents the original principal of $6,700.00 plus an additional interest amount of $13,300.00, which is payment and satisfaction for this note. Said payout of principal and interest is not contingent on loan purpose success." The check was signed by Billy D. Daniels Sr., President of HydroTech Enterprises International Inc, A Florida Corporation.

A search of current cases in court show a lawsuit for breech of contract against Mr. Veal that was filed in December of 2016 concerning $20,000 that was supposed to be repaid on July 31, 2016. The plaintiff in this case was accusing the parties of defrauding people in Georgia through "a pattern and scheme of taking money from these unsuspecting people for use in a 'water deal' in Texas when no deal existed." This case was dismissed without prejudice in early 2018 because there was no proof of service filed on the record though the same complaint was refiled later this year with Kimberly Veal, Billy D. Daniels, Sr. and John Doe being added to the list of defendants along with George "Randall" Veal. It was filed in the State Court of Fulton County with a flurry of paperwork going back and forth between the various parties once Mr. Veal was served with paperwork on the case. The plaintiff has asked for a jury trial so a jury can make a decision on the $20,000 pertaining to the complaint.

Statement from the District Attorney

District Attorney Ben Coker released the following statement on Wednesday, November 28, 2018:

"On March 26, 2018, George Randall Veal was arrested for Violation of the Georgia RICO act. This arrest stemmed from an investigation conducted by the Pike County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the GBI into various acts of fraud perpetrated by Billy Daniels, Sr.

At the time of the arrest, there was evidence that some of the money was solicited by Mr. Daniels had been wired into the escrow account of attorney, George Veal. After his arrest, Mr. Veal and his attorney met with investigators from the District Attorney’s office as well as Assistant District Attorney, Mark Irvin. A subsequent interview of Mr. Veal and his attorney occurred on September 10, 2018, with ADA Irvin and District Attorney Ben Coker.

At that time, Mr. Veal provided documentation that showed, that while Mr. Veal’s escrow account may have been used to receive funds solicited by Billy Daniels, Sr. it was not used to transfer funds to Mr. Veal. It appears from the evidence presented that Mr. Billy Daniels, Sr. received the funds. There was insufficient evidence to show that Mr. Veal actively engaged in the perpetration of fraud committed by Billy Daniels, Sr. As such, the case against Mr. Veal was dismissed.

The case against Mr. Daniels is still pending and will be on a trial calendar in 2019. I commend the Pike County Sheriff’s office for their hard work in this investigation."

Closing

A web search shows that Hydrotech Enterprises International LLC was filed on September 30, 2015. It is listed as inactive on websites that Pike County Times was able to find online over the past week. Mr. Veal and Billy Daniels Sr. are listed as company contacts on more than one of these websites.

Billy Dean Daniels, Sr. has been arrested again since his arrest in March. According to the June 27, 2018 Warrant No. 18-174MW, Daniels has been charged with Criminal Intent and Theft by Deception for attempting to obtain $1,000 from a person in Pike County between June 22 and June 26, 2018. According to the warrant, Daniels told the person (who did NOT give Daniels any money) that the $1,000 was funding a water project in Nigeria. The warrant states that he actually intended to use this money to pay fees for an inheritance scam from Panama after he has been told that this was a scam by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Billy D. Daniels, Sr. has bonded out of the Pike County Jail on the latest charges and is still living in this area.


Introducing the first sponsor of Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

11.29.18
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BREAKING NEWS: Scam Operation Suspects Arrested

ZEBULON - Pike County Sheriff’s Office Investigators concluded a five month long investigation into a scam operation which has resulted in the arrests of two men. Billy Daniels Sr., 70 years of age from Zebulon, and George Veal, 52 years of age from Milledgeville, were arrested yesterday and charged with Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). Daniels has an additional charge of theft by deception.

The investigation into the men’s activities began after a complaint from a local citizen about investing money with the suspects in which there was to be a return paid that was never received. Victims were found as far away as Minnesota and throughout Georgia, after numerous interviews with victims a pattern of getting them to invest in nonexistent companies was found. The suspects even provided documents and had incorporated a fake company to make the business dealings appear legitimate to the victims. Veal is an attorney and money was commonly sent to his accounts by the victims at which time he was found to keep portions of the proceeds for himself.

The suspects had a wide array of victims that included elderly people, cancer patients and lawyers. All of which were swindled out of varying amounts of money.

A total of over $700,000 was found to have been taken in by the two suspects. Both men are in the Pike County Jail and Daniels has a bond of $300,000, Veal’s bond has not been set yet. Daniels is currently on probation from Monroe County where he was convicted for Theft by Conversion in 2013, he also has a prior federal court conviction for embezzlement and theft from a health benefit plan in 1997.

It is possible that more unknown victims exist. If anyone has had any investment business with either of these two suspects you can call an Investigator at 770-567-8431.


Introducing the first sponsor of Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

Submitted 3.20.18
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