Jackson Jambalaya

A jury convicted Warnock of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery on July 16. Warnock was once the Madison County Engineer and CMU Engineer. The defendant faces up to 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson revoked his bond after he attempted to commit suicide later that day. He has been incarcerated in the Forrest County jail since revocation. 

Warnock asked the Court to deviate from sentencing guidelines in a memorandum submitted Thursday.  The defendant argued: 

This case is not one involving diverted public funds. false invoices, or any misappropriation of taxpayer dollars. It is a gratuity case. And for that conduct, the Sentencing Guidelines-properly applied under controlling Fifth Circuit law-result in a substantially lower advisory range than that presented in the Presentence Report.

Yup.  This is a gratuity case, not bribery.  Warnock justifies his argument: 

The gratuities at issue in this case occurred in the context of longstanding professional relationships. There were no allegations that Mr. Warnock inflated invoices, falsified documents, diverted public money, or enriched himself through fraudulent billing. His payments were limited to entertainment and meals-""gratuities"" in the classic sense, not kickbacks. Importantly, none of these items caused pecuniary loss to the CMU or deprived the public of services.

There is no evidence that a single engineering decision was altered, corrupted, or improperly influenced. The government did not Identify-and could not identify-any public project that was tainted, delayed, overcharged, or mishandled because of these gratuities.

Warnock asked Judge Johnson to sentence him to serve no more than 21 months in prison.  Letters of support are attached to the memorandum and are posted below. 

The Justice Department said not so fast, my friend.  Prosecutors claimed in their response the loss "attributable to Warnock under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines is greater than $3.5 million but less than $9.5 million.  The sentence range under those guidelines is 188 months to 235 months.  The Justice Department asks Judge Johnson to sentence Warnock "at the top" of the guidelines."

Prosecutors Kim Purdie and David Fulcher gave Warnock's argument short shrift: 

The Court does not have to speculate as to the appropriate loss amount attributable to Warnock. There was credible testimony and documentary evidence admitted at trial setting out the amount of the invoices paid to Warnock ($1,132,310.31); the amount demanded by Warnock for unpaid invoices ($6,675,374.87); bribes paid in the form of trips ($160,452.55); and monetary bribes ($29,200) totaling $7,997,337.73. The invoices submitted by "paid and unpaid, totaled $7,807,685.18.

Warnock billed CMU approximately $6,675,374.87 with invoices dated between December 28, 2016, and January 24, 2017. In the civil suit against CMU, Warnock alleged that CMU owed him a total of $6,329,974.87 – the value Warnock would have received had he not been terminated as a result of his falling out with Anderson. By Warnock’s own admission, the value of the benefit to be received in exchange for his bribes was more than $6 million. Because this amount alone is more than $3.5 million but less than $9.5 million, an 18-level increase is applicable. 

To the extent Warnock contends that some of the services performed were legitimate and should be credited to him, that argument falls flat. There may be evidence that Warnock provided some valuable services, but there is also evidence that his contracts were a sham and that much of the work did not need to be done by anyone. Furthermore, the fraud involved in obtaining the contracts by bribery was so extensive and pervasive that any underlying value should not offset the total value of the contracts paid.

Warnock's sentencing is Wednesday in U.S. District Court. 

Posted below: DOJ response and Warnock sentencing memorandum.