Former Floyd County magistrate arrested

ATLANTA – The former Floyd County magistrate was arrested this week following a year-long investigation into allegations of financial misconduct, the GBI said.

Chris Mathis, 45, was charged with 27 counts related to allegations he was involved in a “fraudulent investment scheme involving the purchase of cattle,” the GBI said in a statement. According to investigators the scheme “defrauded several victims out of an estimated $500,000.”

The GBI took out 27 warrants for Mathis: 12 for theft by receiving, six for theft by conversion, two for theft by deception, two for exploitation of an elder person, one for forgery, three for deposit account fraud and one for damaging, destroying and secreting property to defraud another, according to the GBI.

Rome Judicial Circuit District Attorney Leigh Patterson requested the GBI investigation. Mathis resigned from his post in May, according to the Rome News-Tribune.