Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer has been indicted on six federal counts accusing her of embezzling roughly $44,607 in public money and spending it on personal expenses. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on Monday. Prosecutors say that if she is convicted on all counts, she could face up to 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.
What prosecutors allege
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, the indictment claims Sawyer began the alleged scheme on Aug. 29, 2024, the day she was sworn into office, and continued through June 22, 2025. Prosecutors say she tapped procurement cards issued to other county employees, a county travel card, and county travel advances to pull off the theft. The release names Assistant U.S. Attorney J. William Crow as the prosecutor on the case.
The spending allegedly covered alcohol, food, and web-based orders such as Uber Eats and Instacart, along with charges at bars, hotels, Memphis Tigers events at FedExForum, Turo rentals, and payments to multiple PayPal accounts, including one that prosecutors say was controlled by Sawyer. Many of the transactions reportedly hit on weekends or holidays when the clerk’s office was closed, a pattern authorities say surfaced during the FBI’s investigation, according to reporting by Memphis Flyer.
The indictment further alleges that Sawyer used the procurement cards in a money-laundering setup, sending stolen funds to a PayPal account controlled by a friend, who allegedly kept a cut and then funneled the remainder back to Sawyer via CashApp. She is charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud, money laundering and interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Protection of local government programs receiving federal funds against public corruption, theft, fraud, waste, and abuse is a top priority of this office,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its statement. The FBI’s Nashville field office added that “as alleged, the defendant brazenly abused her authority as a General Sessions Court Clerk to steal taxpayer dollars to serve herself.” Those remarks were noted in local coverage by Memphis Flyer.
Legal implications
If Sawyer is convicted on every count listed in the indictment, she faces the maximum penalties outlined by prosecutors: up to 20 years behind bars, up to a $500,000 fine, and a term of supervised release. Under federal law, discretionary parole has been abolished, so most federal prison terms are followed instead by supervised release, according to analysis from the Congressional Research Service.
Background
Sawyer took office as Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk on Aug. 29, 2024, after a high-profile campaign. Her tenure has included public clashes with law enforcement and a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation review of an October courthouse incident last year. The Shelby County district attorney’s office examined that episode and declined to bring charges in December 2025, effectively clearing Sawyer of wrongdoing in the courthouse incident, an outcome that locals note as a backdrop to this far more serious federal case.
The new indictment, which followed an FBI probe, will now move through the federal courts in the Western District of Tennessee. Upcoming filings and hearings will set the timetable for what happens next, and prosecutors say their office intends to keep pressing public-corruption cases aggressively.
