Jackson Jambalaya

Michael Guest, the District Attorney for Madison and Rankin Counties, has been operating a collections agency since 2002. Mr. Guest owns Mississippi Court Collections. Mr. Guest is listed as the President, registered agent, and director of the company according to the Secretary of State's website.

MCC specializes in collecting unpaid fines and fees for various courts around Mississippi. JJ has determined MCC has contracts with Alcorn, Atalla, Harrison, Simpson, Winston, Webster, and Yazoo Counties. JJ obtained through public records requests the following contracts: Winston County, Simpson County, Harrison County, and Alcorn County. JJ verified the Yazoo County contract in a phone call to county officials.

The Webster Progress-Times reported two years ago the Board of Supervisors voted to "sign a contract with Mississippi Court Collections. MCC's Scooter Culpepper presented the contract for collection of past-due Justice Court fines." The Choctaw Plains-Dealer reported the Winston County Board of Supervisors "Approved a contract with Mississippi Court Collections to collect all mobile home and personal property taxes that are delinquent. "This is the last resort," said Tax Assessor Brenda Miles. "This is after our office has done everything it can to collect."

The Daily Corinthian also reported "Alcorn County Supervisors voted Tuesday to seek a renewed contract with a firm providing collection services for old justice court fines. Supervisors voted to move ahead with establishing a new contract with Mississippi Court Collections Inc. allowing the company to attempt to collect unpaid fines for justice court. The company has been providing the service to the county since August 2007 and receives a portion of the funds it collects on the old, unpaid fines while forwarding the remainder to the county. The service does not cost the county any money directly and allows the county to receive funds owed on fines that might otherwise simply languish in the files. Court officials report the company has returned more than $22,000 to the county since the service began."

The Simpson County contract is representative of the other agreements. The contract is between the county and Mississippi Court Collections, Inc. for "the collection of delinquent indebtedness to the Justice Court of Simpson County, Mississippi." Delinquency is defined in (2)(a): "any debt, whether originating from a fine, an assessment of court costs, or both, or any other assessment of money, owed by any individual to the Justice Court of Simpson County, Mississippi, that remains unpaid, either in whole or in part, more than ninety (90) days past the date by which payment was to be made under the terms of the order of the Justice Court Judge or after the date the last payment was made."

The contract was signed on January 18, 2008 and expires on December 31, 2011. All contracts were signed by Michael Guest as President of MCC. MCC collects the money and remits it to the court. The county then pays MCC each month its fee for collecting the unpaid fines. MCC receives a share of all monies collected. The Simpson County contract specifies the county will pay MCC 30% of the amount collected. This feature is included in all contracts obtained by JJ. The percentage given to MCC ranges from 25% to 35% (depending on the contract.). The other contracts were signed after Mr. Guest became District Attorney: Winston (July 21, 2008), Harrison (January 5, 2009), and Alcorn (July 26, 2007 but it is currently being renewed.). There are no contracts between MCC and Rankin and Madison counties.

Mr. Guest became District Attorney in January 2008 and was a prosecutor in the same office for several years. It is unknown how much money has been paid to Mississippi Court Collections by the counties listed or how they were obtained. Such contracts are not illegal and do not appear to violate the code of ethics. It is also unknown if MCC has contracts with other counties. The company has no website and is located at 26 Eastgate Drive in Brandon.

Efforts to contact Mr. Guest were unsuccessful.