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State Auditor Shad White has taken the unusual tack for a leader of an investigative and enforcement agency of writing a book about an ongoing case — the Mississippi welfare fraud scandal.

“Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America” hit bookshelves on Aug. 6 even as feds continue to probe and prosecute and the state tries to recoup tens of millions of federal dollars meant for the poor.

White is already drawing some fire for his tell-all from fellow officials he cast in less-than-flattering light. They question whether it’s appropriate for him to write about and profit from a case he investigated, and whether it could hinder ongoing criminal and civil investigation and prosecution.

Much of White’s new tome appears to be his defense of questions he has faced about his own role in the initial probe, his close relationship with a key figure and early decisions he made.

He also heaps criticism on Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch and state GOP Chairman Mike Hurst, who was a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney during the time on which the book focuses. White paints Hurst as too political and egotistical, Fitch as inept and uninterested in going after the misspending.

Hurst and Fitch accuse White of writing a self-aggrandizing work of fiction rather than a documentation of the welfare fraud case.

Hurst in a statement said: “It’s sad and disappointing that our state auditor would stoop to these levels of lies, rumors and innuendo in order to bolster himself politically and enrich himself financially during an ongoing criminal investigation. While fantasy and fiction may sell books, and maybe in his mind bolster his chances for higher office, it is not in the best interest of, or the right way forward for, our state.”

Hurst has also questioned whether White not involving the feds — with their wiretapping, surveillance, statutory and other capabilities — in the case until after the initial state arrests were made public hindered wrapping up all the bad actors in the fraud scheme.

A Fitch spokeswoman said of the book: “There is no question that publishing a book while a case is still active makes a complicated case that much more complicated. It remains to be seen what impact the Auditor’s recollection of events will have on the serious work that is being done on behalf of Mississippians.

“We can’t speak for others, but as far as its account of the Attorney General’s role, we consider the book fiction.”

White, an ambitious politician with eyes on the governor’s office, in his book praises himself and his staff for uncovering massive fraud after a tip from White’s majordomo, then-Gov. Phil Bryant. White in the book also praises Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, to whom White took the case for prosecution.

White initially eschewed federal prosecutors and the FBI, who had much more investigative and prosecutorial might and experience in tracking down misspending of federal money. In the book he explains that he worried the feds would not move quickly enough to staunch the misspending of millions of federal dollars by state actors. So he took the case to the newly elected Democratic Hinds DA Owens, with whom White says he already had a relationship from the two going through conversion to Catholicism together.

Criminal and civil defendants in the case, and the public, have for years questioned then-Gov. Bryant’s role in the frittering of potentially $100 million meant for the poorest of the poor in the poorest state. Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Backchannel” series by reporter Anna Wolfe showed Bryant using private texts to influence his welfare director and try to broker a deal with a pharmaceutical startup that enticed him with an offer of stock in the company. 

White served as policy director when Bryant was lieutenant governor and was his gubernatorial campaign manager in 2015. Bryant in 2018 appointed White as state auditor, a job that has been a launching pad for runs to higher office, and supported White in his subsequent election.

Former state auditors have said that, had they had similar connections to the governor overseeing the agency that spends welfare money, they would have recused themselves or limited their involvement in the auditor’s investigation.

READ MORE: Former auditors question whether Shad White was too close to investigate Phil Bryant

White throughout the book rails against any questions of whether he feathered or sandbagged any investigation for his former boss, who has not been charged with any crime or been included in the state’s civil prosecution.

“Show some proof of this crazy conspiracy,” White writes. “If the feds can find proof on more people, then good. Everyone who did something wrong should go down. If the feds suspect Bryant of telling (a key defendant) to get rich off this money, or if they think Bryant benefitted, then tell them to do the work we’ve been doing. Investigate! Reach their own conclusions! Tell them to do their jobs!”

READ MORE: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre

White, who is critical of Mississippi Today, Wolfe and “The Backchannel” — and never mentions the Pulitzer Prize — shrugs off texts involving Bryant, including one between Bryant and the head of a pharmaceutical company that received welfare money. The drug CEO recently pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges in the welfare case, after White’s book had already been written.

The pharmaceutical CEO texted Bryant two days after the governor left office: “Now that you’re unemployed, I’d like to give you a company package for all your help.”

Bryant responded: “Sounds good. Where would be the best place to meet. I am now going to get on it hard.”

White in his book explains: “Bryant sent these controversial texts after my office took our findings to Jody Owens, so they were not central to the opening salvo of the case. They hadn’t even been sent when we went to Jody. But the message would go on to be a focal point for every prosecutor who looked at the matter from then on. How federal and state prosecutors interpreted his messages — had Bryant agreed to accept something of value in exchange for an official act? — would determine Bryant’s future.”

White further defends Bryant, “the most salient fact … was that Bryant had never actually accepted anything of value” and says Bryant hired a new welfare agency head to get to the bottom of misspending.

READ MORE: Brett Favre says welfare probe has ignored Gov. Bryant’s role

Some of White’s knocks on others, particularly Hurst, appear thinly sourced, such as, “I was still hearing rumors that Mike Hurst was telling people I’d handed the DHS case to state prosecutors instead of the feds to protect Governor Bryant.” And, “The rumors were that Mike had been directing FBI agents as if they worked for him, creating animosity with FBI bosses.”

As for Fitch, White says she appeared disinterested in prosecuting the largest fraud case in state history, forcing those who misspent it to pay it back or seizing millions of dollars in property bought with ill begotten money. He questioned her relationship with famed former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, whom the state has sued to recoup welfare money paid to him.

White writes that Fitch failed to help freeze a bank account holding welfare money but, “Instead Fitch filmed a video around that time with Brett Favre (where he called her ‘Lynn Finch with an n in her last name) discussing COVID and promoting her office — all after the public knew Favre was enmeshed in the scandal … perhaps Fitch was wagering it was better for her long-term political future to align with Favre.”

Favre is suing White claiming defamation, and Fitch has refused to have the AG’s office represent White in the case in part because his book criticizes her office creating a conflict of interest. Fitch’s office has also warned White that any legal matters involving his book would be outside the scope of his job and he would be on his own legally.

In the book White writes: “Attorney General Lynn Fitch has been quiet throughout the DHS debacle, failing to even register a meaningful comment on the largest public fraud scheme in the state’s history. Whereas Jody (Owens) and I faced criticism for moving too slowly — despite being the ones to uncover and serve the first indictments in the scheme — Fitch had escaped controversy by doing nothing at all.”

White’s book has been the talk of Mississippi’s political class for months, with many questioning whether it’s proper for him to profit from a case in which he was involved as state auditor. A recent promotional video of White put out by the publisher appeared to be shot from a state office, with White sitting beneath a large state of Mississippi seal, further prompting the questions.

Tom Hood, director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission, said that generally, an elected official can write such a book.

“The Ethics Commission has advised in numerous opinions that public servants are not prohibited from taking general knowledge or experience gained through the course of their government service and using it in the private sector.”

But professor John Pelissero, director of Government Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said, “I can understand why people would question his motivations here.”

“To be directly involved in investigating the welfare scandal and then, if you will, limiting how much information his office was sharing with the public before coming out with a book, one has to look at the release of this book and ask how is the public interest served by the state auditor using his position … then benefitting personally and perhaps politically,” Pelissero said. “… Maybe in terms of the letter of the law the auditor hasn’t violated anything, but the book is based upon information he acquired in his official capacity. The ethical problem is if the public looks at it and they perceive the auditor is seeking to benefit financially and politically … That undermines the public’s confidence.”

As this article was being reported and written, State Auditor’s Office Communications Director Jacob Walters messaged saying, “I’ve heard around the grapevine” that an article was forthcoming and that he assumed “you would give us a chance to respond.” The state employee, who did not answer whether he was doing the book public relations as a state employee, then sent lengthy written statements from White blasting Hurst and Fitch. (Note: Read the full comments here.)

“The truth, unfortunately, is that Mike was not a particularly good U.S. Attorney,” White’s statement said. And for Fitch, “… she failed to prosecute a soul, failed to seize any property bought with stolen welfare money and forced the state to hire private attorneys … That decision by Lazy Lynn has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars…”

Asked at the recent Neshoba County Fair by Mississippi Today why he wrote the book, White said the writing, which he started a couple of years ago, was partially cathartic.

“I really started writing at a time when the state auditor’s office and the Hinds DA were the only entities doing anything about the welfare scandal in Mississippi, and frankly I was a little frustrated,” White said. “One of the things I do when I’m frustrated is pour my thoughts onto a page … and by the end, I thought this is a story that taxpayers need to know. This is a complicated case as y’all know at Mississippi Today, and I thought I needed to put this all in one place and explain to the people not only what happened but why I made the decisions I made throughout the course of the case.”

And while the feds appear to still be active on the case, White said, “the FBI has not asked us any questions about how to dig into any more facts any time in the last year” and he believes “prosecutors have all the facts and now they’re debating whether to charge anybody else.”

White’s 236-page book, published by New Hampshire-based Steerforth Press, flows fairly well even as it gets into the weeds at times about audit details with lots of numbers. White lists no co-author.

Some of the color in the book can be off-putting, such as what appears to be an almost formulaic — and sometimes harsh — quick description of main characters as they are introduced.

White describes Phil Bryant as having “rugged looks … a thick head of perfectly coiffed gray hair.” Gov. Tate Reeves is, “rosy-cheeked with a full head of blond hair.” DHS Director John Davis is described as, “now a paunchy, balding man with a penchant for flashy ties and decor.” A younger defendant Nancy New had “big hair and a Cheshire cat grin.” Defendant Zach New “still looked like a Southern Miss frat boy … a permanent five o’clock shadow and wore some beer weight around his face.” Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe was “wearing big, horn-rimmed glasses and hair that occasionally changed colors.” An aide to Davis “was callow, still sporting his college haircut.”

White, 38, is himself a small, slender elfish looking fellow with large ears and a receding hair line.

White’s book appears to be written in the vein of c’est fini, but the feds got a guilty plea from the pharmaceutical CEO about one week before White’s book hit the shelves.

A couple of other themes in the book perhaps also didn’t age well.

After White penned his criticism of Hurst and the book was put to bed, Hurst was elected chairman of the state Republican Party. With his ambition for occupying the governor’s mansion, White would probably need the help and support of his party.

Also after the book was put to bed, Hinds County District Attorney Owens’ office and a cigar bar and lounge he owns were in May raided by FBI agents. The purpose of the raids remains unexplained, but Owens said he is cooperating with federal authorities.

The post ‘Lies, rumors, innuendo … fiction.’ State GOP chair, AG bash Auditor Shad White’s book on welfare scandal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Aug. 10, 1920

Mamie Smith sang Perry Bradford’s song “Crazy Blues,” detailing the “outrage by a woman driven mad by mistreatment,” music critic David Hajdu wrote in The New York Times. 

“Now the doctor’s gonna do all that he can,” she advised, “but what you’re gonna need is an undertaker man.” 

The tune struck a chord with Black Americans, still reeling from the violence of 1919’s “Red Summer.” The song popularized the blues, selling more than 2 million copies, Hajdu wrote. “People were not only moved by it; they moved to it.” 

The success of the song prompted major record companies to market to Black audiences and paved the way for other Black female performers. Smith’s voice “changed presumptions about what popular music was, what it could do — what kind of language it could speak to us about the depth and intricacies of our inner lives,” Daphne A. Brooks wrote in The New York Times. 

A century later, the blues continues to play an outsized role in American music. “Hatred and violence have hardly disappeared from the American landscape,” Hajdu wrote. “Neither has the blues.”

The post On this day in 1920 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A north Mississippi animal shelter caring for 27 dogs whose owners have been charged with animal neglect is hoping that the case is an opportunity to reexamine the state’s animal protection laws, which have been rated as among the weakest in the nation. 

The owner and his fiance are facing misdemeanors.

“Stuff like this case is not as uncommon as people think it is,” said Meridith Perry, interim director of the Corinth Alcorn Animal Shelter. “It is happening more than people realize.”

One puppy was dead and scavenged by the other dogs. 

A tip from a neighbor led the Corinth police to a Pleasant Grove Road home where several dogs were outside. Inside, police and staff from the shelter and rescue organizations found malnourished and sick dogs without food and water. 

Mixed breed dogs ranging in age from a few months old to adult age hid under furniture and others stood on it, video released by the local animal shelter shows. Feces and urine covered the ground. 

Perry said the shelter is over capacity since taking in the rescued dogs. 

The owner of the home, Jonathan Hurst, a Corinth city employee terminated this week, was arrested July 28 and, days later, so was his fiance, Sondra Bullard. Both were charged with 27 counts of animal cruelty – a misdemeanor charge for each dog discovered at the property.

After initial hearings last week, both pleaded not guilty and were released on personal recognizance, according to the Corinth Municipal Court’s office. Their next scheduled court date is Nov. 4. 

They could not be reached for comment Friday.

Hurst, who worked for the city’s sewer department, lost his job Tuesday. Mayor Ralph Dance said the termination was unrelated to the animal neglect case, but rather issues related to his employment, the Daily Corinthian reported. 

The city is also considering demolition of the home where the dogs were found because it has been contaminated and is not salvageable. 

The Animal Legal Defense Funds ranked Mississippi’s animal protection laws as No. 45 in the nation in its recent report, based on statutes and categories of protection. 

In Mississippi, a charge of simple animal cruelty includes the criminal neglect or intent of depriving a dog or cat of adequate shelter, food or water or confining them in a cruel manner. A charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail or a maximum $1,000 fine, or both. 

For Hurst and Bullard, that could mean up to 13 ½ years of jail time, $27,000 in fines or both if convicted of all 27 charges.

Aggravated cruelty, a felony, is intentional harm of a dog or cat. Each charge can come with a maximum three-year prison sentence, a $5,000 fine or both. Subsequent offenses within five years carry a prison sentence of one to 10 years and a maximum $10,000 fine. 

“We’re not really holding people accountable to the level they should be,” said Perry, who noted that in other states, there is more of an ability to charge animal cruelty as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

Under state law updated in 2020, a judge can prohibit someone from owning animals in the future, order the person to seek counseling or to complete community service. 

Those found to violate that prohibition can be fined and their animals forfeited to the state, according to state law.  

Convictions have varied for people charged with animal cruelty under the law. 

In 2020, a Jones County woman was charged with 38 counts after caged and hungry dogs were rescued and five dogs were found dead at a property she owned. She was sentenced to 114 months in jail with six to serve, thousands in fines, hundreds of community service hours and an order to undergo a psychological evaluation. 

Last year, a woman who ran a Harrison County animal rescue organization pleaded no contest to 10 counts of animal cruelty and was ordered to serve six months in jail. Sheriff’s deputies went to her property in 2022 and found 30 dead dogs, a dead buzzard and live dogs that were taken in by the nearby animal shelter.

A man pleaded guilty in March to aggravated animal cruelty for throwing a dog off a balcony in Hattiesburg, breaking its bones. In an order of nonadjudication of guilt, he was ordered to complete community service and remain in good behavior. 

The FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System began collecting information about animal cruelty incidents from law enforcement agencies in 2016. But the agency cautions that the numbers may be underreported because not every law enforcement agency reports data and animal control agencies and humane organizations that often investigate cruelty aren’t able to report data. 

Preliminary analysis of the data from 2018 found 4.3 animal cruelty incidents nationally per 100,000 people – far less than incidents of crimes such as assault, robbery and drug offenses. 

In Mississippi, data from the reporting system from 2020 through 2022 showed a total of 362 reported animal cruelty incidents. As the FBI noted, the data is likely underreported because for these years, incidents were reported from 30 to 80 agencies – a fraction of the hundreds of law enforcement agencies that exist in the state. 

As of Friday, the rescued dogs from the Corinth home are recovering. Eight of them were taken into the care of Guardians of Rescue and placed in foster homes out of state. The remaining are in the care of the Corinth Alcorn Animal Shelter. 

Some of the younger ones in better health will be ready for adoption or transport out of state in the coming weeks, Perry said. 

Through the end of the month, adoptions are $50 for dogs that have been at the shelter for a year or more, which she said will help clear up space. 

The shelter staff expressed gratitude to the community and supporters from beyond Corinth who have donated dog food, cleaning supplies and money to help with medical bills. 

“The support has been overwhelming,” Perry said. “We didn’t expect anything of it. We had no idea of what to expect. We just put out the call.” 

For more information about how to help the shelter and updates about the rescued dogs, visit www.facebook.com/corinthalcornanimalshelter

The post Ex-Corinth city employee, fiance charged with 27 counts of animal cruelty appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jackson State University faculty senate president Dawn McLin was placed on leave pending termination last week for allegedly abusing the power of the position, according to faculty who met Thursday night to discuss how to support her.

The accusation has sowed confusion and fear of retaliation among members of the historically Black university’s faculty senate. A Jackson State spokesperson did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment by press time.

McLin, a psychology professor whose family has deep roots at Jackson State, was elected faculty senate president in 2020. She has presided during a fraught relationship between faculty and administration that has seen the senate take multiple votes of no-confidence in members of the current and former administration, due in part to a “continuous pattern of failing to respect” shared governance and other professional norms. 

Though faculty do not know the exact circumstances of McLin’s leave, many expressed alarm that what happened is highly unusual. A tenured professor, McLin is entitled to certain employment protections per university policies and the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees.  

But McLin was apparently placed on leave without any written warning, members of the faculty senate executive committee shared during the meeting. She was also accused of harassment, malfeasance and “contumacious conduct,” a term stemming from IHL policies that means insubordination. 

This sort of treatment of faculty senate presidents rarely happens, at most once or twice every few years, according to the American Association of University Professors, a professional organization that advocates for tenure, shared governance and academic freedom. 

“Such actions are generally taken in retaliation for criticisms of the administration the faculty members may have offered in the performance of their faculty leadership duties,” Anita Levy, a program officer for AAUP, wrote in an email.

McLin will receive a hearing in front of a faculty panel, but multiple faculty noted during Thursday night’s meeting that the president, Marcus Thompson, could terminate her even if the panel recommends she be reinstated. 

Hearing this, multiple faculty stated that if McLin could be placed on leave without a warning, any of them could be. Many said the university’s reason didn’t matter, because as a tenured professor, McLin was owed more due process than it seemed she had received. One professor said he felt like tenure no longer existed at Jackson State and that faculty, no matter their age or length of service, were no longer protected. 

Some faculty wanted more information — which led others to point out the university would have nothing to say because this is a “personnel matter.” 

McLin would not comment for this story. She was not on the Zoom call to speak for herself because she had been “removed from the university altogether,” a member of the faculty senate executive committee told the meeting’s roughly 90 participants. 

But the call, which was initially intended to be a general assembly to help faculty prepare for the fall semester, was briefly attended by representatives for Thompson. 

The timing of Thompson’s two liaisons — Onetta Whitley, the general counsel, and Van Gillespie, Thompson’s chief of staff who used to be IHL’s general counsel — had disturbed some faculty, because one executive committee member stated the senate typically does not invite anyone from the president’s office to a meeting of the full senate unless faculty request it. 

It was also unusual, multiple faculty stated, because no one from Thompson’s office had attended a faculty senate meeting in months. One executive committee member said that Thompson had been invited to attend a meeting in the spring but designated representatives to go instead, and they also failed to show. 

In the few minutes that Whitley spoke to faculty, she did not address McLin’s leave but implied that was the reason she and Gillespie had not received the Zoom link, stating “we know the faculty senate has recently undergone some changes and that may explain why we did not receive such an invitation.” 

Whitley added she was hoping to have a more collegial relationship with the senate going forward. 

“I wanted to say to the faculty senate how much we are looking forward to working with you all,” she said. “We hope to be in a position to foster, really, a better working relationship than in 2024, a more collaborative, collegial relationship than what I understand has existed between the administration and the faculty senate in the past.” 

After Whitley left, some faculty expressed confusion at her remarks, because they thought the relationship was collegial. At the same time, one member of the executive committee mentioned that the faculty senate “has not been allowed” to send a letter to Thompson and instead has been required to reach out to interact with his liaisons instead. 

“He doesn’t have any communication with us,” they said. 

McLin has worked at Jackson State since 2001, according to LinkedIn. Her family has attended Jackson State since the 1920s, and her mother, a former chair in the College of Education, also served as faculty senate president.

Earlier this year, McLin was the principal investigator and project director behind a $1.5 million grant the university received to support an initiative to study how the health of underserved communities is affected by social problems like climate change and structural racism. It is unclear if her potential departure will jeopardize the grant.

“JSU is well-prepared to lead this research effort,” she had said in a press release. “Like many HBCUs, JSU has a history of addressing inequities and advocating for social justice. Our faculty, staff, and students have actively advocated for equal rights, racial justice, and systemic change at local and international levels.”

As faculty senate president, McLin stuck her neck out for faculty, so it was time for them to do the same, multiple people said on the call. They also noted that McLin did not act unless the faculty senate wanted her to.  

Still, many faculty on the call urged caution because they were concerned the administration would retaliate against anyone, especially the remaining members of the senate’s executive committee, who stands up for McLin, especially for the remaining members of the senate’s executive committee. 

“We love JSU as much as they do,” said one faculty member whose name was not available on the Zoom. “The question we have to ask is this the best way to address the issue of faculty? Is this the best way to address the needs of students? Is this the best way to address the community?” 

Jackson State “does not belong to one person or two persons,” they added. “It belongs to all of us.”

The post Jackson State faculty senate president on leave pending termination as faculty pledge support appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Mukta Joshi has joined Mississippi Today as an investigative reporting fellow through the 2024 Columbia University + INN Internship Program.

Joshi graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2024 as a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, where her master’s thesis explored the growing South Asian influence on American politics. She is also a professional photojournalist, and her work has been published in outlets including TIME, Al Jazeera, Hyperallergic, New York Focus and Autostraddle.

“We are so excited to have Mukta join our team,” said senior investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, who oversees the criminal investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today. “She’s a talented young investigative reporter and lawyer, and we know with her help we can continue to expose law enforcement abuses by the ‘Goon Squad’ and others as well as to examine the collateral damage from such abuses.”

One of Joshi’s recent investigations into the sinister preparations for the recent G20 summit in New Delhi and their impact on the city’s poorest communities was selected by the Global Investigative Journalism Network as one of the eight best investigations from India in 2023.

Joshi is a 2019 graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She began her career as a corporate lawyer and most recently, led the legal research vertical at Land Conflict Watch, investigating and writing about land governance, environmental law and forest policy in India.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the brilliant team at the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today, which has tirelessly been churning out deep-dive reportage on the criminal justice system. I’ve always believed that local investigations are what drive efforts towards accountability, and I’m eager to do my bit.”

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For nearly two decades, former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree has dodged allegations of criminal conduct as well as covering it up. On Wednesday, he was finally sentenced by a federal court: to one day in prison.

District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III also gave the 61-year-old retired officer a $2,500 fine and six months’ home detention for lying to the FBI when he denied that he made a jailed woman send him explicit photos and videos in exchange for favorable treatment.

“Power corrupts,” Jordan observed while sentencing Grassaree. “And few people have more power than a county sheriff.”

Grassaree had faced up to five years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines recommended between zero and six months because he hasn’t been previously convicted.

Jordan rejected prosecutors’ recommendation to sentence Grassaree in the lower half of those guidelines and gave him the maximum under those guidelines.

Although Grassaree’s conviction centered on his lies to the FBI, a 2o23 investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times uncovered wide-ranging and serious allegations far beyond them.

At a minimum, the examination detailed gross mismanagement at the Noxubee County jail that repeatedly put female inmates in harm’s way. At worst, it told the story of a sheriff who operated with impunity, even as he was accused of abusing the people in his custody, turning a blind eye to women who said they were raped and trying to cover it up when caught.

As sheriff, Grassaree said he stoked fear into the citizens of Noxubee County by imitating his idol, wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. In the jail, he was called “Big Dog,” and allegations arose that he beat or choked people, including one of his fellow deputies.

On Wednesday, Jordan described what he called “a disturbing pattern of lawlessness in the county jail” that included witnesses saying Grassaree choked a female employee as well as allegations he beat inmates with a broomstick and “gave the greenlight” for the beatings of other inmates.

In a 2007 lawsuit, at least four people who had been arrested gave sworn statements accusing Grassaree of violence. Two of the people said he choked or beat them while they were in his custody. A third said he pinned her against a wall and threatened to let a male inmate rape her.

“I can’t ignore all of that,” Jordan said. “You ran that department.”

On Tuesday, Jordan sentenced former deputy Vance Phillips, who had sex with a  jailed woman behind bars for years, to one day in prison, plus a $2,500 fine and eight months’ home detention, where he will be allowed to work his 60-hour-a-week job, play drums in the church band and visit his doctor if he wishes.

During Phillips’ sentencing hearing, Jordan remarked that she “wasn’t really a victim because she flirted and initiated the relationships.

The jailed woman, Elizabeth Layne Reed, said the judge’s remark blindsided her.

Reed — who spent four years in jail accused of a homicide that the district attorney eventually dismissed, concluding she was innocent — described her incarceration as “torture” and said the judge’s comments were akin to victim blaming.

“I’m the one in jail. They have the power over me. I never wanted to have sex,” she said.  “I was afraid because I knew the power that the sheriff had.” 

She denied that she initiated sexual contact with members of the sheriff’s office. She said she asked Phillips if he could get her a cellphone to use so she could contact her family. 

But she didn’t have any cash on hand, she said, and asked Phillips if she could pay him at a later date.

“Well, there is another way you could get it in if you really wanted it,” she quoted him as saying. “That’s when it first started. He initiated every bit of it.”

By Wednesday, Jordan had changed his mind. “I do consider her to be a victim,” he said, owing to the diminished authority possessed by Reed at the time, and the unequal power dynamic between her and Phillips and Grassaree.

Jordan said Grassaree was a willing participant who lied about his actions. He allowed Reed to receive a contraband cellphone and other benefits. He even made her a trusted inmate, also known as a “trusty.” 

In both Mississippi and federal prisons, it is a crime for an officer to bring in contraband. It is also a felony to have sex with any inmate. Under state law, a convicted officer faces up to five years in prison; under federal law, that maximum is 15 years.

But pursuing federal charges in cases involving state jails or prisons is complicated by guidance issued by the Department of Justice in 2018, which stipulates that officers cannot be federally prosecuted for violating a person’s civil rights if the person “truly made a voluntary decision as to what she wanted to do with her body,” particularly if she received a benefit or special treatment in exchange for sex.

Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University, said the Prison Rape Elimination Act standards “are clear: sex between an incarcerated person and a staff member is sexual abuse. Full stop. That’s because an incarcerated person is under the total control and authority of staff. Fully voluntary and free consent in such situations is impossible.”

After Grassaree’s sentencing, his attorney, Aafram Sellers, said his client was facing the consequences of his actions, for which he takes full responsibility. “Law enforcement is held to a higher standard, to protect and serve,” Sellers said. “He made some bad choices. But this sentence reflects the career of a man who upheld the law and served his community.” 

Sellers asked for probation for Grassaree, who has suffered a heart attack and is now caring for his 87-year-old mother, who lives next door.

Grassaree rose through the ranks of the Noxubee County Sheriff’s Department, from a deputy mopping floors, to chief deputy, to the elected position of sheriff, making him one of the most powerful figures in town.

The investigation by Mississippi Today and the Times revealed that allegations have dogged Grassaree for much of his time in the department.

At least eight men — including four deputies and Grassaree himself — have been accused by jailed women of sexual touching or abuse while Grassaree was in charge.

In her 2020 lawsuit, which was settled for an unknown amount, Reed described how she had been coerced into having sex with two deputies. In return, the deputies supplied her with contraband cellphones.

She also described sexual touching by Grassaree and additional deputies, including Damon Clark. None of the deputies besides Phillips was prosecuted. A grand jury did indict the three male inmates accused of rape, only to reverse itself a day later.

According to her lawsuit, Grassaree knew all about his deputies’ “sexual contacts and shenanigans” but did nothing to “stop the coerced sexual relationships.” 

Instead of intervening, the lawsuit alleged, the sheriff “sexted” her and demanded that she use the phone the deputies had given her to send him “a continuous stream of explicit videos, photographs and texts” while she was in jail. She also alleged in the lawsuit that Grassaree touched her in a “sexual manner.”

It was revealed in court Wednesday that Phillips told authorities that when Grassaree confronted him, he admitted he had sex with Reed and that Grassaree sent him home for the day.

Sellers said Grassaree heard rumors about Phillips having sex, but never confirmed it. Grassaree denied touching Reed sexually.

Even now, no higher authority has reviewed how Grassaree ran the jail or whether his policies endangered women, because in Mississippi, as in many states, rural sheriffs are left largely to police themselves and their jails.

In 2006, after Grassaree and his staff left jail cell keys hanging openly on a wall, male inmates opened the doors to the cell of two female inmates and raped them, according to statements the women gave to state investigators. One of the women said Grassaree pressured her to sign a false statement to cover up the crimes, according to a report made by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The other said that Grassaree pressured her into staying silent, telling her that if she spoke up about the rapes, he and other deputies would “lose their jobs,” according to her sworn statement.

Reed said Wednesday that “just because the justice system failed me, that doesn’t mean that others who went through it or are going through it should not speak up.”

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