Developer to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges

By The Associated Press

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Federal court records show developer Charles “Chuck” Roberts III will waive an indictment and enter a plea to Jan. 31 in Oxford to an undisclosed charge.

Roberts is a longtime developer in DeSoto County and a close friend of Southaven Mayor Greg Davis. Roberts is also the public address announcer for Tigers’ basketball games at FedExForum.

Roberts’ attorney, Cliff Johnson, told The Commercial Appeal that he would not comment.

If a defendant waives his right to a grand jury indictment, in most cases, the prosecutors’ “charging document” — the document which lays out the case against the defendant — is called an “information.”

The information will include the allegations against Roberts and lists criminal charges against him. At that point, Roberts is expected to enter a plea.

Last year, the Mississippi Real Estate Commission suspended Roberts’ broker’s license for a year after finding he violated state real estate laws during a land deal with the city of Southaven.

Last year, The Commercial Appeal reported that Roberts received $45,000 for a single day’s work on the land deal, in which Southaven paid RH Holdings $370,000 on March 24, 2010, for 19.96 acres of vacant land The city bought the land to install a detention pond and piping for a drainage project.

The newspaper also reported that it had found that Roberts and his business partner, Jamie Harris, had received more than $3.4 million through real estate deals with the City of Southaven since 2008.

The paper also reported Roberts and Davis co-owned a $500,000 luxury condo in Florida that they bought in 2006. Roberts has said that he and Davis no longer own the condo together. He said they returned ownership to the bank last year.