News Briefs From Across The State
By Monica Land
Officers arrested at their homes
Two former Columbia police officers have been arrested for conspiracy to transfer controlled substances, Attorney General Jim Hood said Tuesday.
“Drug dealing is a scourge to our communities and families,” Hood said. “It is especially disturbing when law enforcement officers are charged with violating the very laws they are sworn to uphold.”
Michael Steven Bullock, 35, of Hattiesburg and Herbert Cocroft, 45, of Sumrall were arrested Monday, June 24, at their respective homes after indictment by the Marion County Grand Jury. Bullock was indicted on two counts of conspiracy to transfer controlled substances, and Cocroft was indicted on one count.
The charges stem from actions that took place while Bullock and Cocroft were on duty as Columbia police officers.
House blaze determined to be arson
A Picayune woman has been charged with arson for setting fire to her own home.
Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Magri tells the Picayune Item that 47-year-old Inez Hinton was arrested this past week for setting her home on fire. Magri says Hinton is being held on $20,000 bond.
Magri says the fire reported about 8:56 a.m. on June 12.
He says firefighters had to force their way into the house and found several piles of belongings scattered around the residence that had been set on fire. He says matches were found in the kitchen.
Magri says investigators determined that over the past several months a bank had repossessed Hinton’s home. He says Hinton was delivered an eviction order on the same day as the fire.
2 arrested in Lafayette shooting
Two people wanted in the death a missing man in Lafayette County have been arrested in Jackson.
Sheriff’s Department investigator Alan Wilburn says Anthony Darrel Smith of Abbeville, Miss., and Alison Raynetta Alexander of Champaign, Ill., were arrested without incident Friday. They are being held without bond in the county jail pending an initial court appearance.
Each is charged with murder in the shooting death last week of 21-year-old Xavier Benson in the Western Hills neighborhood near Oxford.
2 Simpson Co. inmates who left work detail caught
Simpson County sheriff’s deputies have caught two inmates who walked away from a work detail.
Sheriff Kenneth Lewis tells WLBT-TV in Jackson that 24-year-old Patrick McMillan and 32-year-old Billy Jo Gunter walked off a work detail crew on Mississippi Highway 541 North near the Simpson-Rankin county line at approximately 7:28 a.m. Monday.
Lewis says the two were caught around 7:30 p.m. Monday without incident in Simpson County.
Lewis said both men were incarcerated on misdemeanor charges including old fines and failure to pay child support.
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