A University of Georgia student is facing felony forgery charges for submitting fake documents purporting to show she was fulfilling her probation requirements for a DUI conviction by performing court-ordered community service.
Warrants obtained Tuesday by Athens-Clarke County police charge 21-year-old Briana Noel Cowles with two counts of computer forgery for sending emails and fraudulent documents that purported to confirm she completed more than half of her community service.
Cowles was arrested in October 2014, and in January of this year pleaded guilty to DUI and underage possession of alcohol. She was sentenced to 18 months on probation, during which time she had to perform 70 hours of community service, according to court records.
The Athens-Clarke County Probation Services Office subsequently received two fraudulent emails that purported to confirm Cowles completed a total of 48 hours of community service by working with an after-school tutoring program in Walton County, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.
Both emails had attached documents with Walton County School District letterheads purportedly signed by a school district official.
After Probation Services received the second email, on Sept. 24, Deputy Chief Probation Officer Jay Johnson reportedly called Cowles to his office, advising her of her Miranda rights while confronting her with the emails and attached documents.
“Johnson stated Cowles admitted sending the emails and producing the documents,” according to the police report. “Johnson states Cowles told him the reason she forged the documents was because she panicked about the probation.”
Johnson then arrested the UGA student for violating her probation. A hearing on a petition to revoke Cowles’ probation is scheduled for Thursday in Clarke County Superior Court.
After getting the computer forgery warrants signed by a Magistrate Court judge, police said they gave them to the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, which had yet to serve them on Cowles as of Wednesday morning.
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