by Al Summers
News Editor • alsummers@timescourier.com
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With Sharon Kendall’s admission of fabricating a story that she was sexually assaulted at Ellijay Elementary School Aug. 17 and her subsequent sentencing of two, five-year probation terms and another 12-month probation term, along with repayment of expenses to the Gilmer County School Board, repayment of donations, 500 hours of community service, seeking psychological treatment, and resigning from her job, a number of people have asked why she did not have to serve some time in jail.
Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joe Hendricks, Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, and Ellijay Police Chief Larry Callahan, all of whom participated extensively in the investigation along with agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, agreed that it was better for Kendall to admit publically “that she made the whole thing up.”
Callahan told the Times-Courier, “We felt like it was more important for her to stand before the people in the community and say she made her story up. This way, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the whole incident was a fabrication. Timing was also a factor. We wanted this matter settled and closed.”
He continued, “Had we gone to trial, which would have been possibly a year away, and had we gotten a guilty verdict, she could have still claimed that the incident happened and we just did not catch the perpetrator. People might have still been concerned about an attacker running around the county.”
Hendricks echoed Callahan’s words, saying, “We did not want the people in Gilmer County and Ellijay to think that this incident had happened. That was the most important aspect of our position. We wanted this thing to be resolved quickly. However, she really deserved to go to prison.”
Nicholson agreed, telling the Times-Courier, “Following the accusation, children were refusing to go to school and people were afraid to go outside. This way, we felt like we could put some minds at ease and help people get over their fears. Any other way, and there would have always been questions.”
In her sentencing, Judge Brenda Weaver told Kendall that she deserved prison, and that she (Weaver) was not bound by the agreement reached between the district attorney and Kendall, but she understood why it was important for the truth to come out and the case be resolved, so she was going to act on the state’s recommendation.
If Kendall violates any part of her probation, she could go to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.