Former Georgia senator released from prison early

Jet, Nov 10, 2003

Former Georgia state Sen. Ralph David Abernathy III has been paroled from prison, three months short of completing his four-year sentence on fraud charges.

Abernathy, who was convicted in 2000 and later sent back to prison for violating his parole, had been serving time most recently at Augusta State Medical Prison.

He will be on parole until January, when he will begin six years of probation, according to Heather Hedrick, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. In addition to regular contact with his parole officer, he must meet several other conditions for parole, including finding work, undergoing regular drug testing and making restitution for his crimes, she said.

Abernathy was sentenced in January 2000 on charges of theft by taking, forgery, influencing a witness and violation of oath of a public officer.

The former Democratic state senator from Atlanta was convicted of a scheme in which he bilked the state out of $5,700 by filing false expense reports and was sentenced to four years in prison and six years on probation. He was initially paroled in May 2001 after he served 14 months.

But Abernathy was arrested for violating his parole in September 2002 after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined that he had swindled people by charging them a total of $35,000 to try to secure their relatives' parole from prison (JET, Dec. 16, 2002).

Abernathy's father, the late Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Jr., succeeded the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Abernathy served three terms in the state Senate until 1998, when he was barred from seeking re-election.