Through court documents, state prosecutors are sharing what evidence could be used against a Lauderdale County judge.
of county money on unauthorized expenses such as employing his son, buying a sofa, purchasing alcoholic beverages, golf clubs, eyeglasses, frames, guns, ammunition, kitty litter and more. Self was indicted in January 2024 on sixteen counts of the use of office for personal gain or for the gain of family members, one count of making a false representation to Examiners of Public Accounts and one count of perjury.
The false statement charges stem from lies and false documents being presented to the examiners during a 2023 audit of the two Lauderdale County funds. On top of that, prosecutors say the state wanted calendars from the Circuit Court from 2020 to 2023, but the calendars had disappeared.Now the state says they are still ready to prove he is guilty. Documents show that the guns Self purchased and the American Express card fee he paid for using a county fund was part of the initiation of the case in the first place. After that, they found that many of the charges came from him using the card and then reimbursing himself for those charges. Prosecutors add that the card is not affiliated with the Judicial Administration Fund or the Law Library Fund. Prosecutors filed a notice to introduce specific evidence about Self’s personal trips. The evidence includes financial records, checks and bank statements from the presiding judge’s judicial administration fund, the Law Library fund and Self’s bank accounts. For a few of those trips, Self allegedly paid himself from the court funds and wrote it off as a drug court trip. Prosecutors also plan to use a local magazine detailing Self’s bicycling trips in other parts of the country where he wrote a check to himself for a hotel room with a memo line about a drug court trip. Some of the unauthorized expenses included spending more than $1,100 for two guns for “courthouse protection.” When auditors confronted Self, he could not show where they were held in the courtroom or his office. Prosecutors say they are ready to show that Self regularly, over four years, victimized Lauderdale County, adding that the transactions happen nearly every other month. In the documents, the state even asks the question: if Self believed he could spend the money like he wanted, then why would he lie in the notations on the memo lines for the checks by writing “drug court,” for example? Self entered a plea of not guilty and is scheduled for a December status hearing where a trial date could be set.Autauga County votes down tax increase to support education
State Audit Lauderdale County Presiding Judge
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