August 17, 2008 12:31 pm
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The paragraph in the Thursday joint press release from the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and the State Auditor’s Office said it all in the voice of U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee:
“The guilty pleas of Robert Moultrie, Nixon Cawood and Charles Morehead are the result of a lengthy and thorough investigation conducted jointly by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Office of State Auditor. “Our citizens should commend these agents for their excellent work and perseverance. Moultrie, Cawood and Morehead have agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice. Therefore, commenting further on the investigation would be premature.”
Walk in the pasture?
The trio, all executives of the Georgia-based Facility Group, pleaded guilty to illegally giving former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove “gratuities” in the form of 2003 campaign contributions. The Facility Group was the construction manager for the beef plant.
So let’s take a brief step down the pasture lane and recap this thing:
• Former beef plant owner Richard Hall Jr. pleaded guilty in January 2006 to state mail-fraud charges and federal money-laundering charges. He received an eight-year prison term.
• Beef plant contractor Sean Carothers, whose company built the facility in Yalobusha County, also pleaded guilty in 2007 to paying kickbacks to the owner and was sentenced to 21 months. Carothers’ sentence was reduced to a year and a day earlier this year for cooperating with the government.
• James Draper, 59, a refrigeration salesman from Mount Juliet, Tenn., was convicted July 23 of money-laundering and interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud. He faces 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. His sentencing hasn’t been set.
OK, that brings us up to date. So among the players, Carothers, Moultrie, Cawood and Morehead are “cooperating” with the feds in a beef plant investigation that is apparently ongoing.
Hall and Draper are convicted; Draper is awaiting sentencing.
The $55 million question remains in regard to just whom are Mssrs. Carothers, Moultrie, Cawood and Morehead cooperating with federal prosecutors? Are their other indictments forthcoming?
More to come?
So far, six men have pleaded guilty to integrity-based crimes in connection with the failed Mississippi Beef Processors Inc. plant — and all of them were civilians. More to the point, none of them yet has been a public official.
While Musgrove has been tarred with the beef plant scandal based solely on the campaign contributions, he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. There are other public officials who have received campaign contributions from beef plant-related actors. There are other public officials who have done business with some of those actors.
In the minds of many Mississippians, the question comes down to whether the beef plant was an economic development effort gone terribly wrong or was there wrongdoing on the part of a public official somewhere up and down the line?
Greenlee’s press release intrigue will intensify public and media speculation that there is indeed a public official still in the crosshairs of the beef plant probe — until the cows come home.
Contact Perspective Editor Sid Salter at (601) 961-7084 or e-mail ssalter@clarionledger.com.
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