(LEAKESVILLE, MS.) Nov. 13 - A local county leader has been charged in a bribery scheme. It stems from a Katrina debris removal contract. As NBC 15's Andrea Ramey reports, a Greene County, Mississippi supervisor is accused of taking nearly $20,000 in bribes from a contractor.
Katrina's powerful winds knocked down debris three counties north of the coast in August 2005. After the storm hit in Greene County, MS, the board of supervisors hired Lucedale business Mid-South Pipe to clean it all up.
But the decision District 3 supervisor Earnest Holder made behind the board's table may have been prompted by a payment made under the table.
A Mississippi grand jury found Holder received bribe payments of more than $17,000 from Mid South Pipe's owner Thomas Landon. Testifying before a grand jury, Holder denied receiving bribes stating "I have never took no money from no contractor."
Holder claims that one day after Landon had ridden his truck, a piece of paper fell off the console. And when he picked it up, he found a brown bag full of money, under the seat.
In testimony, Holder denied knowing it was a bribe stating, "I felt like it might've could've been the FBI or somebody put that money in there, because my truck stays unlocked all the time."
Those statements also landed Holder an additional federal perjury charge.
We tried to contact Holder at his house. No one was home. His attorney didn't return our call either.
We also called Landon's and his attorney. Neither returned our calls.
While they're not talking, people in Leakesville are.
"You know right is right and wrong is wrong. That's all I know," said Carlton Ball.
Until Landon's convicted of bribery and perjury, He will still sit behind the board's table and make decisions. Ones that people in Greene County hope come without deals made under the table.
If covicted, Holder faces up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. Landon faces up to 40 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.7 million.
