Grand jury foreman wants report on DeKalb investigation released

A yearlong investigation into DeKalb government ended with a special grand jury report that was supposed to be released to the public, but some jurors are concerned the report still hasn't been published.

The jury foreman, Albert Trujillo, says he and 22 other fellow special grand jurors worked diligently for a year as members of a special purpose grand jury.

They were asked to investigate the inner workings of the DeKalb County Watershed Management Department.

At first it was just once a week. But by the end, they were meeting once a day investigating allegations of corruption.

On Jan. 8, the grand jury turned over their final report to Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott.

Trujillo said that Scott indicated their report would be released to the public by now.

But on Tuesday, Trujillo and a fellow juror sent a letter to Scott saying they believe the information needs to be made public without delay.

"Obviously if we have some findings, we want to see them come before the citizens that we represent," Trujillo said. "Since it hadn't happened, they had not been made public, we asked the judge to enlighten us."

The special purpose grand jury is part of the same investigation that led investigators from the district attorney's office to search the home and office of DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis last month. It happened the same day that Ellis testified before the grand jury.

Trujillo said that he is not allowed to discuss what he and his colleagues learned, but he said that the recommendations that the special grand jury is making calls for significant changes in county-wide operations.

A staff attorney for Judge Anthony Scott says it's unclear when they will be able to publish the final report because she says the matter is now before the state Court of Appeals.