The State Auditor's investigators arrested Hinds County Election Commissioner Toni Johnson this morning in Clinton. She is currently in custody at the Raymond Detention Center. More information will be posted when available.
Update (1:00 PM): State Auditor Shadrick White issued the following statement:
Today State Auditor Shad White announced Special Agents from his office have arrested Hinds County Election Commissioner Toni Johnson and Hinds County resident Cedric Cornelius after both were indicted on multiple charges. Special Agents also delivered demand letters to them showing they collectively owe nearly $250,000 back to Hinds County taxpayers.
“My office will always enforce the law, regardless of who the perpetrators are,” said Auditor White. “I want to thank the dedicated investigators and prosecutors whose work got us here.”
Johnson is accused of fraud, embezzlement, and accepting a bribe. She allegedly used her position as a member of the Hinds County Election Commission (HCEC) to purchase two 85-inch televisions and personal protective equipment (PPE), which she purportedly had delivered to her own home and one other private residence. To conceal this scheme, she allegedly purchased smaller, less expensive televisions as “replacements” for the larger televisions purchased by HCEC. Johnson’s demand letter shows she owes $25,893.8 back to taxpayers, which includes interest and investigative costs added to the $16,000 cost of the property HCEC purchased.
Cornelius has been also indicted for conspiracy, bribery, and fraud. He allegedly used his company—Apogee Group II, LLC—to work with Toni Johnson to be paid without work being performed. The company was awarded contracts to perform cleaning services, COVID-19 testing, and voting machine audits for HCEC despite being registered as a “motion picture and video production” company. A $216,227.28 demand letter was issued to Cornelius when he was arrested.
A portion of the money allegedly obtained by these individuals came from $1.9 million in grants awarded to Hinds County by the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)—a nonprofit organization funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. This organization gave over $350 million to election offices across the country during the 2020 election season according to the Wall Street Journal.
“These cases expose some of the dangers of private funding of our elections,” said Auditor White. “They also represent another chapter in the story of fraud that has resulted from the massive amount of COVID-related spending in the last two years.”
Both individuals were arrested this morning and transported to the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office and Clinton Police Department assisted with the arrest. The court is responsible for setting a bail amount.
If convicted, the defendants face many years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The case will be prosecuted by the office of Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens.
“The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office looks forward to working with the State Auditor Shad White and his dedicated team to end public corruption in Mississippi,” said District Attorney Owens. “The misuse of government funds designed to aid the citizens of Hinds County will not be tolerated by our office and those who break the law will be prosecuted.”
No surety bond covers either of the defendants or their alleged crimes. Surety bonds are similar to insurance designed to protect taxpayers from corruption. Both Johnson and Cornelius will remain liable for the full amount of the demand in addition to criminal proceedings.
43 comments:
Lawd have mercy !
Get them all!!
Them $3.59 pens are going to get you!
Ohweeeee!
One down ,many more to go in Jackistan.
This is the same Toni Johnson accused of improperly spending county funds?
Attn 12:05 DUH!!!!!!
Please - no anti Shad comments on this one. This is going to be good.
It's all gonna come down to "Hair and Nails".
Some gonna say "GIRL!"
Others gonna say "Girrrrrrrrrrrlllllll......"
What was she arrested for?
Wasn’t this the lady that David Archie was questioning about invoices?
According to the statement on the auditor’s site, Toni was presented a demand to repay just over $25k and owner of a business, Apogee Group II, was also implicated for over $216k in fraudulent contracts facilitated by Toni.
WLBT: Two weeks before Election Day, Hinds supervisor pulls board item for $1.5M grant amid vendor concerns
Who is going to do her makeup in the jail?
It is no wonder Jackson and Hinds county have no money for water-sewer, garbage collection etc. it appears that what money is allocated is immediately stolen. I say to Hinds/Jackson,you keep creating these problems, you find some way to fix them and pay for them. If they can steal this much money involving voting, what makes you think the votes aren’t corrupt.
I can just hear her now: "Officer, you will address me as commissioner or I will have your job."
Damn Shad, when you get done there be no one left in Mi(humpback)(humpback)i(humpback)(humpback)ppi.
Go get em Shad WhiteCorruption Killer Supreme!!!!!!!!!!!
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Now, shouldn’t David Archie receive some of the credit here? Aside from his antics, he did expose this lady.
Shad needs to quit blowing his own horn. We get it already Shad. You are doing your job. Great, but the rest of us don't issue press releases when we do what we are paid to do. Give it a rest and go after the big fish Shad, or do you not have the guts to do that?
Attn 1:21 If Archie turned her in, you can bet he had an ulterior motive or was acting out of revenge.
Meanwhile, I have to go to the courthouse and get government permission to have an electrician fix my service mast
Fuck the government. ALL government
Working hard is for suckers.
When she said "I have a vision for the citizens of Hinds County" nobody thought she meant a 85 inch TELEVISION, and a SPARE as back up! Wow! I bet that was some Super Bowl Party with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog and all the others on an 85 inch television! Girl shoulda known something was up when David L. Archie told her "I'll bring the SCOOPS"!
And as for that other fellow, cleaning services AND election machine services? I bet even Kenny Stokes coulda smelled the "Raw Boo Boo" going on with that! Wow. Just wow.
I have no problem with giving Mr. Archie credit for shining a light on this criminal. As the saying goes, a broken grandfather clock is right at least twice a day.
He still cra-cra tho.
Well, at least one state is scrutinizing how Zuckerbucks were actually spent to interfere in our elections.
Guarantee she ain't the only one . Please Shad, look into the Hinds County Schools ! Please !!! Has no one noticed all the brand new personal rides ?
"I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that bumbling Cedric and that meddling David L. Archie!"
How many other Hinds Co. officials are shredding papers and erasing emails right now?
David Archie was right all along. Maybe he's loud and angry because the rest of the board is corrupt?
Names not showing up on the Jail docket in the last couple of hours I looked!
What up with that sheriff?
As far as I'm concerned, she can keep both TVs if she turns over the big fish.
1:27 PM, what "big fish" do you chase or do you not have the guts to do that?
If an unnamed mayor were to accept bribes from an unnamed garbage company in LA, would Shad come to the rescue?
Tony Johnson was recruited by Uncle Bennie to run against Darrel McQuirter for supervisor. She came in third but likely cost him the election. He would have beaten Archie in the primary. Nobody showed up in the runoff.
Pro-tip: Don't try to flush anything, the water supply pressure isn't consistently good enough to count on flushing!
@3:27, if you have evidence of such a bribe, I'm sure Shad would love to hear about it. He puts the contact line on his site daily.
We can all assume that there just might be some money improperly involved, but that's not enough to bring the State Auditor into a city's operation. However, if any of these folks hanging around this site (and others) talking about the massive bribes would provide something to be chased down - other than speculation - we would all love to see Richard and Chockwe doing a perp walk down to the courthouse.
Toni Johnson left plenty of bread crumbs along the trail so that following them was simple. I'm sure that the crumbs from Richards are buried deep in a pile of garbage.
Hinds County should have REALLY appreciated the board of supervisors they had the last four years before the 19 election. Literally the eye of the hurricane.
Will the current Hinds County elected officials that she helped get elected be arrested too Shad?
Fuck Zuck!
I like Mark Zuckerberg. He reminds me a lot of myself. I never had the chance to steal a Social Network in University, that eventually get billions in black funding from 5 eyes. But if I did, I imagine I would be exactly like Mark Zuckerberg.
85 inch television? 85 inches, lessee.....is..just over SEVEN FEET.
"... in University..."
Uh-oh.
Yeah, that's one of your more common exchanges heard down here in the Magnolia State...'Where'd y'all go...?" "I was in University at Old Mississippi...but I went to legal school at The Mississippi State University of Law...and cows..."
Toni Johnson and all the idiotic election commissioners (along with Mark Z and his group) think that Election Commissioners' job is to promote the vote, get more people out to vote, etc. No. Their job is to run a fair and equitable election. To properly train the poll workers and make it convenient for all registered voters who desire to vote to do it without hinderance.
In Hinds County, with an election commission that can't chew gum and walk at the same time much less understand the requirements of Mississippi law about the conduct of an election their real purpose is lost among them as they sit in a circle jerk and bitch about their counterparts.
Plenty of 'good government' groups promote voter registration, get out the vote, learn about your candidates. But that is not the job of an election commissioner - they are supposed to focus their entire efforts on the conduct of the election.
Granted, in Hinds County, since the commissioners have no idea how to do that they spend their time elsewhere. Lunches. Registration drives at their selected churches, where of course they can spend public dollars to support their pastor.
But Toni (and others???) found just short of two million free dollars and decided to carry their game to a higher degree.
But 85" tvs? Hell, the Commission office doesn't have a place for the 14" tv that was taken from the jail by a deputy a decade ago. Where the hell did she think she could hide that 'training equipment'?
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