East Cobb County critic of Braves stadium arrested over emails

An East Cobb attorney has been arrested on one count of stalking Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, and two counts of sending harassing communications to employees with the Council for Quality Growth who she suspects of setting her front-yard fence on fire last year.

Susan McCoy, 45, has been critical of the county’s $400 million public contribution toward SunTrust Park. Her fence was set on fire in September 2014, about one week after she criticized the Braves deal during a county commission meeting and told various media outlets that she had filed an SEC complaint over the county’s plan to issue bonds to finance the public contribution.

McCoy is convinced that there is a connection between her contacting the SEC and the arson. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took no action related to her complaint.

In the months since the arson, McCoy has been sending emails to various public officials, including Olens and county commissioners, accusing Michael Paris and James Touchton of being involved.

Paris is the president of the Council for Quality Growth; Touchton is the organization’s director of policy and government affairs. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter, and several other private citizens, have been copied on many of those emails.

McCoy acknowledged in an interview with the AJC on Thursday that she went to Olens’ home recently and took pictures of his residence. McCoy said she then sent those pictures to Olens through email.

“I would never hurt anyone, ever,” McCoy said in the interview. “I did not understand it would lead to this. I was just trying to get a response. Instead, I got arrested.”

McCoy also said sending the bevy of emails was “regrettable,” and said it was related to the stress she has been under since the fire.

Many of the emails say the fire was set at the behest of Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee, and they accuse Olens of protecting Touchton and Paris.

Olens declined to comment Thursday.

Lee issued a statement through his spokeswoman saying: “The allegations made by Ms. McCoy against me and many others are false, unfounded and slanderous. At this time, my number one concern is the physical and mental well being of all parties affected by this situation.”

A statement issued through a spokesman at the Council for Quality Growth says: “We are saddened and disturbed by the allegations, from the original incident and since. They are all unfounded, and we do not feel it appropriate to comment further.”

The police report says that Paris and Touchton received 29 emails from McCoy since Aug. 7, including seven sent on Sept. 8. McCoy also posted many of those emails to her Facebook page — most of which have since been deleted — and in many of them she acknowledges being in therapy since the fire.

She was arrested Tuesday and spent seven hours in jail before being released on $7,500 bond.