VIDEO: Lowndes County Law Enforcement Cracks Down on Bribery Cases

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – When on trial for a crime, defendants may try bribing or intimidating victims to lift charges.

Recently, this has become a trend in the area, and law enforcement isn’t tolerating the rise in this crime.

A twist in an upcoming aggravated assault case has landed both the suspect and victim at the same address, the Lowndes County Jail.

“Law-enforcement in the county have seen a trend of defendants trying to bribe and/or intimidate victims into dropping charges,” said District Attorney, Scott Colom.

It would seem Lowndes County is not alone.

State lawmakers have increased the penalty for using these tactics to circumvent the justice system, by increasing the sentence to 15 years.

“I think the state legislature is trying to send the same signal that we’re trying to send, which is we’re not going to tolerate people subverting the rules of law and trying to intimidate victims or bribe victims to drop charges,” continued Colom.

When charges are suddenly dropped, that sends up a red flag with prosecutors.

“Anytime someone wants to drop charges, my victim impact director asks questions about whether they’ve been promised anything and/or intimidated. If there’s anything suspicious about their answers, then we would take it further,” said Colom.

In Columbus, 4 people have been arrested in a single case. Thirty-two year-old Nicolas Edwards is charged with accepting a bribe from twenty-five year-old Jarvis Alexander, regarding an aggravated assault case.

Alexander was aided by thirty-two year-old Latoya Gavin and fifty-three year-old Jo Ann Davis, both of whom have been arrested, as well.

“The evidence was shown that we have them colluding together about doing this,” said investigator, Hunter Parker.

“This was a case where four people plotted and schemed to change the outcome of the justice system,” continued Lowndes County Sheriff, Mike Arledge.

Law enforcement wants to bring awareness about consequences for aiding or accepting bribes.

“Once a victim takes a bribe, they turn themselves from a victim to a defendant because they’ve committed a fifteen year felony, themselves,” said Colom.

Different methods are used to contact victims with bribes, but investigation techniques and raised awareness are what law enforcement are using to shut down this trend before it gets out of hand.

“We definitely hope there will be a decrease in these types of cases like this, and we’re going to do everything we can to keep this from happening,” said Arledge.

“Don’t dig the hole deeper by subverting the criminal justice system. If you’re a victim, trust the system, and let us bring you justice using the legal means,” said Colom.

Several law enforcement agencies are teaming up to crack down on the Bribery and Intimidation cases.