By JEFF AMY
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A Texas man has been sentenced to five years in prison and must pay nearly $500,000 for bribing Mississippi’s former prison chief.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate, rejecting pleas for a lighter punishment, handed down the sentence Tuesday against Mark Longoria.
A Houston resident, Longoria waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit bribery in August.
He’ll forfeit $131,000 and pay restitution of $368,000 to Mississippi’s government.
The CEO of Drug Testing Corp., Longoria admitted he paid nearly $230,000 to Mississippi businessman Cecil McCrory for his work helping to secure sales of drug testing cups in 2013 and 2014. Longoria has said he found out during the contract that McCrory was kicking back $60,000 to then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps but didn’t stop it.
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