Former Tift County High Principal and 2023 Georgia Principal of the Year Arrested on Additional Charges Including Theft and Fraud

Dr. Chad Stone, the former principal of Tift County High School and Georgia’s Principal of the Year in 2023, has been arrested on seven additional charges following a recent 13-count indictment. These new charges, brought by the Tift County Grand Jury, include three instances of unauthorized use of a school credit card, three counts of making false statements regarding purchases to the Tift County Board of Education, and one felony charge of theft by deception.

The theft by deception charge alleges that on September 29, 2023, Stone unlawfully took $8,318 intended for school-related socks for personal use. The false statement charges pertain to falsified invoices for sock purchases. Stone allegedly created false invoices from Southern Media Creations and Pear Sox and submitted an inflated invoice from “BTTY” (an acronym for his slogan “Better Today Than Yesterday”).

Previously, Stone was charged with another felony theft for unlawfully taking $1,886.87 in goods and services between June 2022 and January 2024. He also faces eight counts of unauthorized use of a school credit card, including for personal expenses at various locations.

These charges stem from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) probe initiated after the Georgia Professional Standards Commission found Stone had violated professional standards. He resigned as principal on February 12, after being suspended and placed on administrative leave by the Tift County Board of Education for ethical lapses and misuse of public funds.