A former Leake County, Mississippi, sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to a roughly two-year-long, 31-count charge of drug evidence tampering Tuesday.
Justin Moore, 40, of Carthage, was arrested and charged with 31 counts of evidence tampering following a lengthy internal investigation involving multiple drug evidence submissions made to the Leake County Sheriff’s Office, according to a statement. The investigation, conducted by the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, also included an audit of the office’s evidence vault.
Moore was swiftly arrested on Oct. 31, 2022, in connection with the evidence tampering, Vicksburg Daily News reported. (RELATED: Six Former Police Officers Plead Guilty To Torturing, Framing Two Black Men)
Leake County deputy pleads guilty to 31 counts of evidence tampering https://t.co/0p2DARUJKA
— 16 WAPT News (@16WAPTNews) September 6, 2023
“Every case that he was involved in, rightfully so, was dismissed … These folks had a second chance to be able to get their life straight,” Sheriff Randy Atkinson said, 16 WAPT News reported.
Leake County police have since changed the drug evidence process by creating an evidence drop-off box, according to 16 WAPT News. “If you go to a bank and do a drop box, that’s what we’ve got now. It’s a drop box that they drop it into, and it’s no way of retrieving it,” Atkinson reportedly said.
Atkinson hoped that Moore’s sentencing would serve as a warning to drug offenders in the county and that nobody was above the law, per the statement.