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$6M worth of items from theft ring up for grabs in ‘Super Bowl of auctions'

FLOYD COUNTY, Ga. — A local county is about to have one of the state's biggest auctions as police investigators wrap up one of Georgia’s biggest RICO cases.

Channel 2's Dave Huddleston was in Floyd County where more than 600 items will go on sale Saturday morning.

Police said the items were bought with $6.3 million stolen from taxpayers in a phony invoice scheme.

Now all the items being auctioned off.

"There are not too many cases that's going to be much larger than this case here,” said Floyd County Police Maj. Jeff Jones.

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The scheme was spearheaded by Derry Richardson, the school district’s maintenance supervisor, Jones said.

Richardson and 12 others stole the money from the school district and this is what they bought with the money: Dozens of vintage and high-powered guns, bobcats, high-end drones, cars and even a house.

"We have seized everything we can prove was purchased with stolen money," Jones said,
All of the items, except for the house, were on display at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds.

Lou Dempsey will auction off the 600 items Saturday.

"We've been in business for 52 years and this is by far the biggest auction, we've dubbed it the Super Bowl of auctions,” Dempsey said.

Jones said Richardson and the other suspects have been charged with theft by taking, money laundering, and the RICO Act. He said after working the case for three years, the auction will help the community heal.

"It's always the satisfaction of the Floyd County police and myself to be able to recoup anything that's stolen from the victim,” Jones said.

"When you have victims such as this, the tax payers and the money to go toward the children, I mean that's a huge satisfaction,” Jones said.