OXFORD — Twenty people, including 14 law enforcement officers, across the Mississippi Delta and Tennessee were arrested on Thursday by the FBI in a drug conspiracy takedown after a sprawling years-long investigation, federal authorities announced.

The investigation and alleged police corruption spanned counties across the Delta and stretched into Memphis, Tennessee, where some of the officers are alleged to have accepted bribes in exchange for providing protection to undercover FBI agents posing as members of a Mexican drug cartel. On three occasions between 2023 and 2024, the officers escorted the undercover agents transporting cocaine through the rural Delta along U.S. Highway 61 and into Memphis, court records allege.

Of the 20 individuals charged, 19 are accused of illegally carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The charges, which are outlined across multiple indictments, portray an operation that extended from rank-and-file patrol officers up through police chiefs and sheriffs. The allegations mark a “monumental betrayal of the public’s trust,” said Clay Joyner, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Andrew Bailey, Co-Deputy Director of the FBI, said corruption permeated “multiple counties and multiple jurisdictions in the state of Mississippi and beyond.”

“They disgraced the badge and undermined the hard work of law enforcement officers across the state and across the region,” Bailey said at a news conference in Oxford.

The allegations differed slightly in their specifics, but most of the charges revolved around officers providing protection to undercover FBI agents in exchange for bribes. Joyner said the federal investigators did not identify any connections to the Mexican drug cartels, even though agents posed as members. But he said the federal investigation began years ago after the FBI’s Jackson Office began receiving tips from accused drug dealers themselves about bribes demanded from police officers in the Delta.

The individuals charged include: Brandon Addison, Javery Howard, Milton Gaston, Truron Grayson, Bruce Williams, Sean Williams, Dexture Franklin, Wendell Johnson, Marcus Nolan, Aasahn Roach, Jeremy Sallis, Torio Chaz Wiseman, Pierre Lakes, Derrik Wallace, Marquivious Bankhead, Chaka Gaines, Martavis Moore, Jamario Sanford, Marvin Flowers and Dequarian Smith.

Gaston is the elected Washington County sheriff, and Bruce Williams is the elected Humphreys County sheriff. Gaston allegedly gave his blessing “for the cartel to transport narcotics and narcotics proceeds through Washington County and for the cartel to use his deputies” for the illicit drug runs. Williams allegedly received multiple bribes “for the cartel to operate in his county” and for the cartel to use his deputies for protection.

Two more individuals were arrested and listed in the federal indictments, but they were later cleared on Thursday, and charges against them were dropped, Joyner said.

The Mississippi law enforcement agencies that had officers charged include the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Hollandale Police Department, Humphreys County Sheriff’s Department, the Metcalfe Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Sunflower County Sheriff’s Department, Yazoo City Police Department, Bolivar County Sheriff’s Department, Greenwood Police Department and the Greenville Police Department.

The bribes ranged from a few thousand dollars to as much as $37,000, Joyner said. Some of the officers are charged with escorting the trafficking of 25 kilograms of cocaine, sometimes referred to as “birds.” In other instances, they protected the transport of illegal drug money, investigators allege.

Before sunrise on Thursday, word of the arrests had already begun spreading across small, close-knit communities in the rural Delta. The area is one of the poorest regions of the country, and distrust of law enforcement is high.

Ahead of the Thursday afternoon news conference, Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood told Mississippi Today that FBI agents called him early that morning and informed him that Marvin Flowers, his chief deputy, had been arrested. The scandal could further decimate trust between police officers and Delta communities, Haywood feared.

“In law enforcement, we’re supposed to set the bar of honesty. We’re supposed to set the bar on trust in our community. We can’t violate it,” Haywood added. “This is devastating news, and we just got to pick up the pieces and regain the public trust.”

The Sunflower County Sheriff’s Department said Flowers was in custody on Thursday and could not provide other contact information for him.

In neighboring Washington County, Greenville Police Chief Marcus R. Turner Sr. told Mississippi Today that Greenville Police Department Sgt. Chaka Gaines was arrested.

Gaines was awarded “Supervisor of the Month” by the Greenville Police Department in April 2024. He was a 14-year veteran of the department and supervised lieutenants on multiple shifts, according to a department social media post.

Multiple videos circulated online Thursday that appeared to show confused neighbors filming some of the arrests. One video shows a law enforcement vehicle parked outside an apartment complex with its sirens blaring, ordering Gaines to surrender.

“Chaka Gaines, this is the FBI. Come out with your hands up. We have a warrant for your arrest,” a law enforcement officer said.

A resident of an apartment complex in Greenville, who feared blowback from local law enforcement officers and was granted anonymity by Mississippi Today, woke up to what sounded like a bomb around 5 am on Thursday. He said he could see two SWAT trucks and one regular van. He said he watched his neighbor, Gaines, emerge from his apartment with his hands up.

In Greenwood, a neighbor of the arrested Mississippi Highway Patrol Officer Marquivious Bankhead said he witnessed the arrest, and it shook him.

“You feel safe with law enforcement as a neighbor, you know? It sort of erodes that trust in law enforcement,” the man said. “Just trying to process something like this first thing in the morning with FBI agents in your yard is just wild.”

Mississippi has been the site in recent years of other federal probes into local law enforcement agencies that have resulted in criminal charges and lengthy prison sentences.

In Rankin County, six former law enforcement officers — most of them in a self-named group called the Goon Squad pleaded guilty to federal civil rights offenses for torturing and sexually assaulting multiple men. The Department of Justice has signaled that the investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department will continue.

In Holmes County, also located in the Mississippi Delta, the Department of Justice accused the Lexington Police Department in 2024 of engaging in excessive force, illegal searches and sexual harassment.

In 2024, former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree was sentenced to one day in jail for lying to the FBI and former Deputy Vance Phillips received a similar sentence for bribery for procuring sexual favors from a jailed woman in exchange for contraband.

Delta residents are still reeling from a mass shooting earlier this month that killed nine people and wounded a dozen more during or after high school and college homecoming celebrations. Robert Eikhoff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office, said his agents faced initial impediments responding to the shooting.

The episode exposed firsthand the consequences of distrust born from the abuse of power by law enforcement, he said.

“We learned of the community’s distrust of select law enforcement officers due to concerns of corruption,” Eikhoff said. “Law enforcement is only effective when the communities they protect can trust that law enforcement officers are honest in serving the community’s interest. Mississippians deserve and rightfully expect officers to obey their oath.”

This story has been updated to add information from federal officials and from residents in the Delta. Mississippi Today reporter Leonardo Bevilacqua contributed to this report