JACKSON, Miss., is where the federal case has moved through plea agreements and courtroom outcomes, with a jury returning a not-guilty verdict for one former Greenville police officer while others accepted plea deals, according to an Associated Press report published April 23. The case involves allegations that law enforcement officers took bribes tied to drug trafficking, as prosecutors said an FBI agent posed as a member of a Mexican drug cartel.
Federal indictments filed in October allege that 14 current or former Mississippi law enforcement officers took bribes from that undercover agent in exchange for helping transport 25 kilograms of cocaine through Mississippi Delta counties and into Memphis. Prosecutors said the Delta portion of the western and north Mississippi region was among the places covered by the alleged conduct.
The indictments also included officers from multiple law enforcement agencies in the Mississippi Delta, and they named a total of 20 people in the scheme, including two sheriffs. In addition to the alleged bribery involving law enforcement officers, prosecutors charged six other people—three in Mississippi and three in Tennessee—connected to the case.
By the time of the April 23 update, the report said six officers had accepted plea deals, agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to aid and abet the possession, transportation and distribution of illegal narcotics. The officers listed as having accepted plea deals were Martavis Moore, Jamario Sanford, Marvin Flowers, Dequarian Smith, Brandon Addison, and Javery Howard—who had been employed as law enforcement officers at the time of the alleged crimes.
The report also said Sean Williams, another law enforcement officer at the time of the alleged conduct, filed a notice of his intent to change his plea. The remaining law enforcement officers, including Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphrey’s County Sheriff Bruce Williams, are scheduled for trial this summer, according to the AP.
In the separate verdict reported by AP, the case reached trial for Chaka Gaines, described as a police officer with the Greenville Police Department at the time of the alleged crimes. A jury found Gaines not guilty on Wednesday on federal charges that included aiding and abetting the possession, transportation and distribution of illegal narcotics, with an additional firearms charge also at issue.
AP reported that during Gaines’ trial, a judge dismissed the gun charge for insufficient evidence. Gaines’ lawyer, Bridgette Morgan, said after the verdict that, “This verdict reflects a fundamental principle that the government must prove that a crime occurred; it cannot create one.” The Greenville Police Department did not immediately respond to AP’s questions about Gaines’ employment status.