Jackson Jambalaya

Four former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to charges of theft of government funds and property today in federal court. The Justice Department announced:

"Jackson, Miss. -- Watson Jackson, a former Deputy with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Zach Robinson, a former Deputy with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, and Kent Daniels, a former Jackson Police Officer and Investigator for the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, pled guilty in U.S. District Court today to theft of government funds and property.

On September 30, 2011, defendants Robinson and Daniels, along with an FBI informant, drove to a motel to rob a room they thought was being used by a drug dealer. They discussed detailed plans of the robbery and how they would divide the money among themselves. However, the FBI had previously rented the motel room and placed $23,000.00 in cash and seven iPads in the room. Jackson drove in a separate vehicle to the motel and acted as a lookout.

Upon arrival at the motel, the FBI informant and Robinson entered the motel room and took the $23,000.00 and seven iPads. After taking the cash and the iPads, they met up with defendant Daniels in order to count the money. At the time, they did not believe they had taken all of the money, so Jackson and the FBI informant went back to the motel room and looked for additional money. After the robbery, defendants Robinson, Daniels, Jackson and the FBI informant divided the money and iPads between them.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerry Rushing and Mike Hurst.

The defendants will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee on May 23, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. They each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine."

Editorial note: About time Kent Daniels was busted. Here is what JJ reported earlier about this scumbag:

The same investigator that was involved in the Heather Spencer case, Elicia Hughes case, and was busted with drugs back in 2000 while at JPD.

  Kent Daniels was the subject of a 2008 post after his named kept appearing in several controversial cases. I wrote in an earlier post concerning the first assault on Heather Spencer:

"The police reports states she had 57 staples (3 rows), a finger splint, a spring wrap on her wrist, and that he tried to strangle her. Ms. Spencer also states in the report she had a fracture.... It is at this point several questions about JPD's conduct are raised. The charge was reduced to Simple Domestic Violence, a misdemeanor, by Detective Daniels."

Detective Daniels next appeared in the Elicia Hughes trial where he decided to "interview" female subjects in the case at Red Lobster. Frank Melton then assigned him to be a "bodyguard" for District Attorney Robert Schuler Smith. He is reportedly now working as an investigator for attorney Precious Martin.