Cleveland Anderson intends to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. The Canton Alderman filed the notice of his guilty plea in U.S. District Court today.
A federal grand jury indicted former Canton Municipal Utilities engineer Rudy Warnock for conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud in December 2021. Anderson was indicted for two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery as well. The indictments were unsealed nearly a year later on November 22, 2022.
The grand jury also indicted former Canton Alderman Andrew Grant and Canton Alderman Eric Gilkey for Conspiracy to commit bribery (2 counts), conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud in December 2021 as well. The two defendants pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to commit bribery. U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate will sentence them on May 24.The indictment alleges the defendants bilked CMU from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017. Commissioner Anderson moved to hire Warnock as CMU's civil engineer on August 16, 2016.
The indictment charges Warnock made regular payments to Anderson, Gilkey, and Grant in exchange for contracts and "favorable treatment" at CMU.
Some of the Warnock gifts included tickets to luxury suites at New Orleans Saints games and concerts in the Crescent City.
The indictment charges Warnock deposited a check "in the amount of $9,200, made payable to J.M. through the automated clearinghouse system of the Federal Reserve Bank System. Part of the proceeds of this transaction were given to defendants Grant and Gilkey in the form of $4,000 cash each.
The maximum penalty for the conspiracy to commit bribery is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalties for the wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges are 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Anderson's guilty plea means Warnock is the only remaining defendant. Attorney Damon Stephenson represents Anderson.
29 comments:
Are further indictments coming down on this case?
This trial will be like the trained Macaw show at Disney. See ya later Rudy. Should've taken the Plea.
You're going down Rudy!
Lie down with dogs and.....
Damn. Another one that was tried, and sentenced by an APPOINTED Judge.
How about that Jeff Good. I'm sure you think that this was nothing but a racial sentence here in our Capitol City. What say you?
I am shocked....shocked, I say...to think Rudy would be involved in criminal activity!!
So will this FBI investigation move to the Madison County government now? That is a large fertile field for an investigation.
Interesting. We have 3 people (3 have pleaded guilty) that say bribery and conspiracy happened. And we have 1 person (Rudy) saying that it never happened. Why would these 3 plead guilty to something that never happened?
ha! Rudy and others sure need to plan to say bye for a while
*yawn* wake me up when Brett Favre and Phil Bryant are indicted.
The real money stolen was at Madison county. Bills over his tenure of 11 years were in the neighborhood of 27 million. If he pleads guilty some nervousness will set in on the BOS!
@10:24 - Hinds County, 1985 = nine individuals pled guilty to having offered a bribe(s) to an official of the MS State Office of the Farmers Home Administration USDA. Those nine individuals all served time. The individual that they testified took the bribes and gave them contracts went to court in the Federal Building located in Jackson. He was found not guilty - due largely to the testimony of one Aaron Henry who told the jury the FmHA official was "only trying to help the po' folks of Mississippi.
The individual found not guilty has been living life high ever since, including some nice state perks from his job with an automobile group here.
Maybe that fortells Rudy's fate - he has someone impotent lined up to testify about his concern for the po' folks of Madison County.
Folks in Madison County know if Rudy talks he will
Take down Karl Banks, Paul Griffin, Gerald Steen and Espy. The question is wi he talk to save his own ass?
Rudy could have a terrible accident. Let's see, Espy knows Hillary...
8:24, that would be too good to be true. Hopefully the FBI investigation will keep going.
@ 8:24...Don't forget 'clean up needed on aisle 14'.
Is it called money laundering (or something else) when a group of men contract with another man and those contracts come to, say, roughly 30 million dollars, and then half of that amount is redistributed to the men who wrote and approved the contracts?
If Jones and Baxter had not been elected to the MadCo Board 8 years ago, the county would still be contracting with Rudy and Espy would never have been fired as County attorney. Of course, with the re-election of Banks, Espy was re-hired.
February 10, 2023 at 12:10 AM, I guess you think the governors daughter, Katie, was a good county attorney. She had zilch for experience and couldn't give an answer to save her life.
Will Rudy talk to save his own ass? For sure he will. He's soft AF. Look at that gelled up hair and bedazzledd jeans. Rudy won't last long in jail and he knows it.
12:16 is right.
We should let these criminals walk free since we cannot arrest all criminals today.
It just logical.
Katie was a great attorney for MC. She saved their @ss a few times.
You know what you know and don't know what you don't know.
She did not need the job, probably did not really want to accept it but she did!
Pretty sure she does not miss the backstabbing or nasty behavior at MC.
In all honesty, coming from someone who did not approve of the Espy hire again.
He is a decent attorney.
He knows he being watch closely.
Rudy took advantage of the simple minded public servants of Canton. Don’t blame them. Rudy has been doing this for years. If they did deeper, they will find much more. Just ask Steen. Maybe they can share a cell together. Many years comeing their way cheating the taxpayers of Madison county. My only question is why did it take law enforcement so long to catch Rudy for something everyone in the county has known about for years. Oh well, his time is up now.
Katie didn't need a job? Hogwash. Baxter thought it would be his ticket to political stardom to secure enough votes to fire Espy and hire the governor's daughter. Her pay was exorbitant and certainly not in line with her skill-set or resume.
Maybe 4:48 will give an example of her 'saving their ass' with her superior legal skills. I lost count of the times she announced she would (or had) contact other county attorneys across the state for 'advice on how they do things'.
She was a trainee adrift in the deep end of the pool. Pull up any archived board meeting.
But, she probably was not engaged in activities that benefitted her directly as was the case prior to her arrival and after she was replaced. In that regard, shady characters often skate, but they eventually hit thin ice.
Comparing Katie’s legal skills and experience to Espy is a joke. If her father wasn’t Feel the Governor who helped steal millions from welfare money she would have been considered a 4th year law student. 8:47 is right .She never had an opinion without having to charge to go get advice from others. @8:29- what exactly should we be asking Steen?
re: Attny rep for MC
For the 2nd time, you don't know what you don't know.
Rudy is going down. We get to see who goes with him.
3, 2, 1!
We shore do not know what we shore do not know,
And a blow hard like you will continue to blow.
Those charged with Rudy have now pleaded out,
A fed charge ain't State, on that there's no doubt.
Fed charges ain't State, you can't mix the two,
If that could be done, we'd have quite a zoo.
The others can wait for a pending State charge,
Til then they'll smile and still roam at large.
"February 10, 2023 at 12:10 AM, I guess you think the governors daughter, Katie, was a good county attorney."
Never said that. I only spoke on the firing of Espy and how that came about. Katie's hiring was Baxter's sweet-dream gone sour.
I think she's a top-water lawyer at best, meaning she won't run in deep-water. I do know her daddy sure does need one.
re: February 12, 2023 at 8:23 AM
That's sorta funny. Baxter's sweet dream. That comment is ignorant.
Guess what? Katie doesn't need your blessing, advice or legal counsel.
Neither does her family.
When is Rudy's hearing? Are you going to be so sure of yourself then?
Good to see family members circling the wagons at 12:55.
More indictments soon to come!
Did Rudy build a barn behind a current supervisors home ?
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