DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said this week that the outstanding warrants for writing bad checks that surfaced last week were an isolated incident and doesn’t affect her work on the county commission.

“That’s in the past,” she said Wednesday. “It was before I was elected. It has nothing to do with how I serve my constituents.”

But information surfaced this week of a string of charges for writing bad checks and default judgments for delinquent loans dating back to 1996.

Atlantaunfiltered.com, a website that investigates elected officials, unearthed and reported Thursday on the charges and judgments in court records in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. The public record shows a trail of debts and financial problems that included missed car payments, garnishment of her teaching salary, and the loss of her $162,000 Stone Mountain home last September when she unable to make her mortgage payments.

In the midst of her financial problems, Barnes Sutton reported loaning $49,500 to her 2008 campaign for the seat on the Board of Commissioners.

The court records also show that some of the charges for writing bad checks were dismissed because the statute of limitation had run out. In others, Barnes Sutton pleaded no contest and paid the outstanding charges.

But on Wednesday before the records were found, Barnes Sutton, who represents District 4 in Stone Mountain, said the bad checks totaling $1,000 to a Costco in Gwinnett County were written in 2007, before she ran for office. She said that she was unaware of them before the police found them last week.

“I don’t remember writing those checks,” she said. “It didn’t look like my handwriting. It could be a case of identity theft. I have my lawyer looking into it.”

If she wrote the checks, Barnes Sutton said she could have missed them in 2007 because of personal issues she was going through, including the death of her late husband, which she did not want to talk about.

“I was taking care of a lot of transactions,” she said. “Something could have gone through my account.”

To clear her name, Barnes Sutton said she took care of the outstanding payments Jan. 21.

“I paid them,” she said. “I am just grateful that I had the opportunity to clear up this matter and I can go back to focusing on my work.”

Barnes Sutton, a DeKalb County teacher, was elected for the first time in November 2008 after several runs for office.

She took office in January 2009 and chairs the Board of Commissioners’ Public Safety Committee and serves on its Budget Committee.

Her personal financial problems surfaced on Jan. 20, when her car struck an unoccupied parked car on a private property on LaVista Road. During the investigation, the DeKalb Police officers found the warrant for her arrest for “Deposit Account Fraud” from the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.

Instead of arresting Barnes Sutton, the officers advised her “to go directly from the scene of the accident to Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office and get the matter resolved.”

For that decision, the officers – Assistant Chief F. J. Kliesrath, Capt. T. S. Dedrick and Lt. C. T. Whittington – received written reprimands for a violation of departmental policy.

DeKalb Public Safety Director William Miller said Tuesday the violations were a first offense for the officers. He said his investigation revealed the need for additional supervisor training throughout the police department and a policy update concerning the proper handling of warrant verifications.

“The training and policy update have been already begun within the department,” he said.

Barnes Sutton said she did not ask for any special treatment from the officers and was unaware of police procedures for handling warrants.

“I don’t pretend to know their procedures,” she said. “I was very grateful that they allowed me to contact my attorney and take care of it.”

Asked if the same courtesy should be extended to all her constituents, Barnes Sutton said she would expect the police to follow what is customary for them.

“In my lifetime I know that professional courtesy is extended all the time,” she said.

“I am sorry if anyone was reprimanded.”

Barnes Sutton said that her constituents are supportive of her.

“They are telling me to hold my head up and be strong,” she said. “They tell me that people go through things and I must be strong.”

She says she wants to put the warrants behind her. This week, she attended all Board of Commissioners meetings, including Thursday’s budget committee meeting into the county’s proposed 2010 budget.

“I am moving on,” she said. “I am just trying to work hard for DeKalb and to be the best commissioner I can be.”