2 Mississippi sheriffs, 12 officers charged in drug trafficking bribery scheme, officials say | PBS News https://share.google/RYK7W97Dzx5NuCIIo
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Federal authorities on Thursday announced indictments against 20 people, including 14 current or former Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers, that allege the officers took bribes to provide safe passage to people they believed were drug traffickers.
The yearslong investigation swept across multiple counties in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi and Tennessee. Two Mississippi sheriffs, Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams, were among those arrested.
It wasnt immediately known if those named in the indictments had lawyers who could comment for them.
Multiple Mississippi law enforcement agencies and sheriffs have faced federal scrutiny in recent years.
In 2024, the former Hinds County Sheriff Marshand Crisler was convicted of accepting $9,500 in bribes and knowingly providing ammunition to a convicted felon. The same year, former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI while being questioned about requesting and receiving nude photos from a female inmate.
William Brewer, a former Tallahatchie County sheriff, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2019 for extorting brides from a drug dealer.
In 2023, six law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to state and federal charges for torturing two Black men, a case that sparked a Department of Justice investigation into the Rankin County Sheriffs Office. A similar DOJ probe concluded last year that officers of the Lexington Police Department discriminated against Black people.
Always
remember that thin blue line folks.
The Bill of Rights should be for everyone... except it isnt