TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

NewsChannel 5 Questions Judge’s Use of Federal Funds

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 25, 2022
News Type: Legal News

NewsChannel 5 is raising questions about how Davidson County General Sessions Judge Rachel Bell spent money from a $200,000 federal grant. The channel said it appears Bell used funds intended for a diversion program for office space in a building owned by her parents and made rent payments to Solutions Now, a company she owns. Dennis Dycus, who spent 39 years auditing local governments and nonprofits at the State Comptroller's Office, says the arrangement is unusual. "You can't pay yourself, and that appears to be what is happening here." Six months later, Bell hired a program director and was provided office space in the Justice A.A. Birch Courthouse and the nonprofit McGruder Center. Bell said the spaces she paid for housed items used for expungement clinics and Saturday Community Service Work dockets, but that the expenses were “pre-approved, reviewed and properly administered” by the Administrative Office of the Courts.” The AOC told NewsChannel 5 that it did not pre-approve the expenses and only learned this week of the connection between Bell and Solutions Now.

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