Twenty people, including 14 current or former Mississippi law enforcement officers, have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that allege a widespread drug-trafficking conspiracy.
The indictments accuse officers from multiple law enforcement agencies in Mississippi of taking bribes to provide safe transport to people they believed were drug traffickers. Six other people — three in Mississippi and three in Tennessee — were also arrested.
The officers are alleged to have understood they were helping to transport 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine through Mississippi counties and into Memphis. Some of the officers also provided escort services to protect the transportation of drug proceeds.
Two Mississippi sheriffs, Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams, were among those arrested. Both Gaston and Williams are accused of accepting thousands in bribes from someone they believed to be a member of a Mexican cartel. In return, the sheriffs allegedly gave the cartel their “blessing” to operate in their counties.
Michael Carr, an attorney representing Williams, said his client maintains his innocence.
“Let’s just get to the merits of it and get in front of a jury so the officers and my sheriff, Bruce Williams, can have his name cleared, can be publicly vindicated, and can hopefully get back to work,” Carr said.
A lawyer for Gaston did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
All law enforcement officers charged in the case were offered a $10,000 bond with a condition that bars them from continuing or seeking employment as law enforcement officers. The Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training has also suspended the officers' law enforcement certificates, pending a full hearing before the board.
In addition to the two sheriffs, those charged include: Brandon Addison, Javery Howard, Truron Grayson, 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.
The Associated Press spoke with several lawyers representing those charged who emphasized that their clients are innocent until proven guilty.
“He is absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever, and everybody knows it,” attorney Thomas Levidiotis said of his client, Dequarian Smith.
Smith served as a law enforcement officer with the Humphreys County Sheriff's Office and Isola Police Department at the time of the alleged crime.
The indictments are a blow to already shaky public trust in law enforcement, Robert Eikhoff, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jackson Field Office, said when the charges were announced last month.
During the same press conference, U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner called the alleged scheme a “monumental betrayal of public trust."
