A former Cartersville police officer who worked as the department's evidence custodian has been charged with stealing money from the evidence room. The public record does not yet identify the amount missing, the cases connected to it, or whether any criminal prosecution was affected.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Donna Jean Kelley, 61, on September 24, 2026, and charged her with violation of oath, first-degree forgery, and felony theft by taking. Kelley was booked into the Bartow County Jail.
According to the GBI, the Cartersville Police Department requested an outside investigation on May 27 after money was found missing from its evidence room. The agency says investigators determined that Kelley stole money while she was employed as both an officer and evidence custodian.
The GBI described its investigation as active and said the case file would be sent to the Bartow County District Attorney's Office for prosecution after the investigation is complete.
Kelley has been arrested and charged. The GBI states that its investigation identified her as the person responsible for the missing money. Those are agency findings supporting pending charges, not a guilty plea, verdict, or sentence. Kelley is presumed innocent unless and until guilt is established in court.
An evidence-room case creates questions, not automatic answers
An evidence custodian may handle property from many unrelated investigations. Money, drugs, weapons, electronics, documents, and personal property can move through a secured evidence room under different retention rules. When the custodian is accused of theft or forgery, defendants and lawyers may reasonably ask whether an item in their case was stored, moved, counted, tested, or released correctly.
But the officer's arrest does not automatically prove that every item she handled was compromised. It also does not automatically dismiss a charge or overturn a conviction. The GBI announcement does not identify affected case numbers, missing amounts, dates of alleged theft, audit results, or the conduct underlying the forgery count.
What defendants and families can do now
If Cartersville police collected money or other property in a pending case, the safest first step is to alert the defense lawyer, not to assume the case has collapsed. Give counsel the defendant's full name, case number, arrest date, agency, and a description of the property at issue.
Keep property receipts, booking inventories, police reports, photographs, forfeiture notices, bond papers, discovery letters, and every document listing cash or property. Preserve the original file and send counsel a copy.
Ask whether the item entered Cartersville's evidence room, who had custody, whether an audit found a discrepancy, and whether the prosecutor has provided any notice or supplemental discovery connected to the investigation.
Do not edit screenshots, coach witnesses, contact the accused officer, or post confidential discovery online. Preserve what you have and let counsel decide how it fits the case.
The Georgia Public Defender Council advises clients and families to stay connected with the defense team, bring every case-related document, and ask questions when the process is unclear. Its statewide customer-service line is 800-676-4432, and Georgia Courts provides a Find Your Public Defender directory organized by judicial circuit.
Records requests and criminal discovery are different tools
Cartersville publishes a written open-records process for police records. Requests may be emailed to cpdrr@cartersvillepolice.com or delivered to the department's Administrative Division Commander. The city states that basic police or incident reports are available without charge, while other records may involve copying, storage, mailing, or labor costs.
The GBI uses a separate web portal for open-records requests and allows requesters to track the request, communicate with the Open Records Unit, receive estimates, and download responsive records. Its published Open Records Unit number is 404-270-8527.
An open-records request is not the same as criminal discovery. Records can be withheld or redacted under applicable law, especially while an investigation is active. A Georgia Attorney General opinion explains that GBI criminal investigation files connected to a prosecution are treated as part of the prosecutor's file and that discovery questions should be coordinated with the prosecutor on a case-by-case basis. Defendants should discuss formal discovery with their lawyer rather than relying only on a public-records request.
The GBI asks anyone with information to call its Calhoun office at 706-624-1424. Anonymous tips may be submitted at the GBI tip portal or by calling 1-800-597-TIPS. Record what you personally know, how you know it, and the relevant date or case number.
A records request, complaint, or tip does not preserve a court deadline. People with pending charges, appeals, forfeiture proceedings, or post-conviction claims should keep the investigation issue and their legal deadlines on separate tracks.
Sources and verification
- Georgia Bureau of Investigation, arrest and charging announcement, September 25, 2026.
- City of Cartersville, current police open-records procedure.
- Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Open Records Unit and portal.
- Georgia Public Defender Council, Working With Your Public Defense Team, October 6, 2026.
- Georgia Courts, Find Your Public Defender.
- Georgia Attorney General Opinion 98-15, GBI criminal files and discovery coordination.
Verification date: October 7, 2026. The arrest, charges, employment role, investigation request, and GBI's account of the alleged theft come from the agency's official release. No indictment, plea, verdict, dismissal, or sentence was located. The GBI release does not identify the missing amount or any affected criminal case.
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