Donna Jean Kelley held the keys to the Cartersville Police Department’s evidence room. The state of Georgia says she’s the one who took money out of it.
Kelley, 61, wore two hats inside the department: sworn police officer and evidence custodian — the person trusted to guard everything booked into the property room. When money went missing from that room, her own department did something departments almost never do: it called in the state to investigate one of its own.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened its probe in May. Agents spent four months digging through the property room’s records.
On September 24, they arrested Kelley and booked her into the Bartow County Jail. The charge list reads like a betrayal checklist: violation of oath by a public officer, first-degree forgery, and felony theft by taking.
Two Hats, One Badge
Evidence custodian is a job that runs entirely on trust. Officers hand over cash, jewelry, and weapons on the assumption that the person logging it all keeps it safe and accounted for — sometimes for years while a case crawls through court.
Kelley held that position while also carrying a Cartersville badge. Prosecutors now have to prove she used the access that came with both roles against the room she was paid to protect. The charges are allegations, and she has not been convicted of anything.
All three charges are felonies. Violation of oath exists specifically for officers who use their position to break the law they swore to enforce — and it’s the charge Georgia reaches for when a badge becomes the tool.
Kelley is charged, not convicted. She’s presumed innocent, and the state now has to prove every count beyond a reasonable doubt.
How Much Went Missing?
The GBI isn’t saying. The amount taken from the evidence room has not been made public, and investigators haven’t offered even a ballpark figure.
What is public: the case now heads to the Bartow County District Attorney, who decides where it goes from here.
A police department asking the state to audit its own evidence room is rare. An arrest four months later is rarer still. The person trusted to guard the evidence is now the person answering for it — and every department in Georgia just got a reminder that the property room needs a watcher too.
#OhDangReally #DonnaKelley #EvidenceRoom
