SHELBY – A second police officer has been arrested for allegedly helping three other men set fire to two vehicles belonging to city officials. Ronnie Walters, 45, was arrested by the FBI this week on federal charges of aiding and abetting a suspect who is accused of maliciously destroying two vehicles by fire last year.
The vehicles belonged to Shelby Aldermen Dan Harris and Harold Billings.
Walters, known as “Ronnie Dog,” appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Sanders, in Oxford Wednesday, where he was ordered held by the U.S. Marshals until a detention hearing on Friday.
Officer Barry Smith, 37, of Shelby, was indicted in October 2009 for the same case of arson and he pleaded not guilty in federal court to aiding and abetting.
Authorities said the incident took place on July 29, 2009, and that three men, Michael Guyton, Corey Jones and Ketwon Bovan, set fire to Harris’ 1987 Nissan truck and Billings’ 1995 Chevrolet Blazer.
Both vehicles were destroyed by the fire.
Investigators said that Smith allegedly provided the gasoline to the suspects knowing they would set fire to the vehicles.
“There is a stark distinction between officers who honor their oath to uphold the laws of the land and those who do not,” Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI in Mississippi Daniel McMullen said in a public statement. “The FBI is charged with investigating and bringing to justice the small minority of law enforcement officers who fail in this regard. The public expects and deserves nothing less.”
Alderman Harris said the fires may have been retaliatory because some police officers became angry when aldermen held a public meeting about the police tactics in Shelby.
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