County attorney arrested in kidnapping probe hours after emergency meeting to address early-morning sheriff crash, walk-out at WCSD
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A crashed cruiser in Wayne County and a slammed suspect in Jones County are causing concerns that are likely being exacerbated by election-year politics. But there was a bombshell from Waynesboro hours after an emergency meeting there when one of the officials running the meeting was arrested as part of a federal investigation into a kidnapping involving a former NFL star.
Sheriff Jody Ashley reportedly crashed his new WCSD vehicle in the early-morning hours Wednesday and didn’t immediately report it to authorities. Then the Jones County Sheriff’s Department got involved about 24 hours later when Ashley called Jones County Sheriff Joe Berlin and asked for a ride to the emergency room at South Central Regional Medical Center, according to reports.
Ashley lives in Jones County, right on the Wayne line, and “his request was accommodated by a JCSD deputy at the direction of JCSD command staff as a professional courtesy,” the JCSD reported in the press release. It was emphasized that Ashley was picked up the next night/morning and it was in Jones County. The deputy who handled the transport lives near Ashley and knew where to go to get him, the JCSD added.
The Wayne County Board of Supervisors called an emergency session Thursday afternoon to address the “general welfare and safety of the citizens of Wayne County” caused by the “extreme” loss of personnel at the WCSD and “damage to county property.”
That was in the wake of the crash and a reported walk-out of at least four deputies after the firing of Chief Deputy Mike Mozingo — who qualified to run against Ashley in the upcoming election. Newly appointed Chief Deputy Jason Wiggins was at the meeting and reported that Ashley was in a crash that totaled the new vehicle “between 3-4 a.m. Wednesday” and left the scene. No signs of alcohol being involved were found during the internal investigation, he said. They later decided to call for an independent investigation.
In October, Mozingo was reportedly involved in a crash in his county vehicle on Highway 84 East near the Wayne County line. There were accusations that he had been drinking — a point that came up in the emergency meeting, too — but there is no evidence or reports to substantiate that. The Leader-Call reached out to the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Jones County Fire Council and reported witnesses about the wreck and there were no records.
Since that emergency meeting, the Wayne County attorney has been arrested for his role in a kidnapping charge against former NFL star Jerrell Powe.
Cooper Leggett, 40, was charged with conspiracy and booked into the Madison County Detention Center just after 3 a.m. Friday. That’s related to the Ridgeland Police Department investigation into a report that Powe and a California man kidnapped a medical marijuana company owner from a location in Laurel, took him to Ridgeland and forced him to withdraw cash. No details about Leggett's reported involvement in the case are known.
In Jones County, a home-security video of a deputy getting rough with a suspect has drawn the ire of some people on social media. JCSD narcotics agent Andrew Yates can be seen slamming the unidentified man to the ground, and Capt. Vince Williams later gets on top of him as he’s handcuffed. Both also yelled profanity during the incident.
Sheriff Joe Berlin said he was made aware of the video by the suspect’s mother, and he asked her to send him the entire video instead of just two “snippets,” and he assured her he would take disciplinary measures.
“I told them I was not happy and this isn’t acceptable,” Berlin said, adding that the deputies acknowledged that they were “over-aggressive” during the arrest.
The incident happened on Houston Road, right next to where an accused drug dealer was recently arrested for the second time in a little more than a month, Berlin said. What isn’t heard on the video is the suspect who was sitting in a car next door surprising the officers by asking, “What y’all doing, boy?”
Berlin said there was a suspension and a warning that if it happens again, it could result in termination — which is department policy, he said. But he didn’t get too specific, citing that it was a personnel issue. He didn’t identify the personnel involved, but a reporter recognized them.
No formal complaint has been filed and the man hasn’t responded to a message from a reporter.
“We handled it in house, as soon as we found out about it,” Berlin said. “We hold our guys to a high standard. If they mess up, disciplinary measures are taken. There are policies and procedures to follow.”
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