A federal jury returned a guilty verdict against the former interim sheriff of a Mississippi county after federal prosecutors detailed how he solicited, and accepted, nearly $10,000 in cash bribes from a convicted felon.
Marshand Crisler, while the sheriff of Hinds County from August 2021 to December 2021, promised to reward the man in exchange for payments to support his election campaign to remain sheriff, according to court documents.
Crisler agreed to provide him with information about criminal investigations, to get him a job with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office and to protect the man’s incarcerated family member by having them moved to a “safer place” at the Hinds County jail, prosecutors said.
He also supplied the man with ammunition, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. Federal law prohibits providing ammunition to convicted felons.
After Crisler lost his election campaign, he became the executive director of the county’s Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center and continued to “make promises of reward” to the convicted felon, an indictment shows.
He promised to have one of the man’s felony convictions expunged and to have him hired in a law enforcement position at the juvenile justice center, according to the indictment.
What Crisler didn’t know was that the convicted felon was working with authorities as a confidential human source, the indictment shows.
Crisler, 55, was convicted on Nov. 8 of soliciting and accepting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a Nov. 12 news release.
His defense attorney, John Colette, didn’t immediately provide a comment when contacted by McClatchy News on Nov. 13.
Following Crisler’s conviction, Colette told WLBT outside the courtroom that Crisler was “extremely upset, obviously, as anyone would be.”
Tonarri Moore, the convicted felon, worked with the FBI to gather evidence against Crisler, Mississippi Today reported.
After guns and drugs were found in Moore’s home during a raid in September 2021, Moore cooperated with the FBI in exchange for a lesser sentence in a related pending federal case, WLBT reported.
In February, he agreed to plead guilty in the case, court records show.
Federal public defenders representing Moore didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Nov. 13.
On Nov. 7, Moore appeared in court to testify against Crisler while in handcuffs and wearing an orange jumpsuit from the Madison County jail, where he’s detained on a conspiracy to commit murder charge in connection with a man’s killing in May, Mississippi Today reported.
After Crisler’s attorney, Colette, questioned Moore about bribing other officials, Moore mentioned bribing someone $100,000, according to the outlet.
Crisler’s sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“This conviction should serve as notice to public officials in Mississippi who sell their office in exchange for bribes that the Department of Justice will work to hold them accountable,” U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee said in a statement.
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