2 suspects in murder plot denied bond again
Two men charged in a plot to kill state College Board member Tommy Duff were once again denied bond, this time at their preliminary hearings.
Howard Darron Cameron, 47, of Biloxi and Glen Denard Evans, 46, of Gulfport appeared before Justice Court Judge Denton Plumlee on Tuesday for their preliminary hearings.
In addition to denying bond, Plumlee ordered the case bound over to the grand jury.
Victor Albert Mitchell, 42, of Sumrall also was charged in the incident. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The three men are charged with conspiracy to commit murder; attempted extortion; conspiracy to commit extortion; attempted sexual battery; conspiracy to commit sexual battery; attempted kidnapping; and conspiracy to kidnap Duff.
Jack Rayner, an investigator with Lamar County Sheriff’s Department, said in affidavits filed in Lamar County Justice Court that the men attempted “to commit the crime of extortion in that they did attempt to extort Tommy Duff by purchasing items to complete their task and driving to a location to meet the unnamed co-conspirator.”
The affidavit says the men planned to kidnap Duff and “create a video of Tommy Duff and threatened to make the video public for the purpose of embarrassing Tommy Duff in an attempt to obtain money.”
According to Rayner, the men bought items they planned to use to conduct a sexual act on Duff against his will.
The plans were circumvented by law enforcement before they could take place, Rayner said.
Mitchell, Cameron and Evans were arrested Nov. 19 and initially charged with conspiracy to commit murder. They were booked into Lamar County Jail, where they have been held without bond.
Plumlee also denied bond on Dec. 15 during an initial court appearance for the additional charges. They were returned to the jail following the hearing.
On Dec. 12, Mitchell sought to have his bond set, but Judge William Andrews III denied his request.
“While I recognize that the defendant is innocent of these charges as he sits here today, and I also recognize that the Constitution requires bail in all but the extreme — most extreme — cases, I cannot in good conscience grant the defendant bail because I find that he constitutes a special danger to the alleged victim in the case,” Andrews said.
“Based on the testimony of the MBI (Mississippi Bureau of Investigation) investigator, the charges filed against Mr. Mitchell entail a plan or a conspiracy with others to plot the murder of an alleged victim. This plan and plot according to the testimony was confirmed by a confidential informant and physical evidence at the time of the arrest of Mr. Mitchell.”
The suspects were arrested at a convenience store off the Evelyn Gandy Parkway in Forrest County by officials with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Hattiesburg Police Department and Marion and Lamar County sheriff’s departments, MBI spokesman Warren Strain told The Clarion-Ledger in an earlier story.
Duff of Hattiesburg was appointed to the state College Board by Gov. Phil Bryant in 2015.
“The Duffs were unaware of this person, attempt, and know very few details,” a spokesperson for the Duff family said in an earlier story. “Tommy and (his brother) Jim say they are very pleased with how this is being handled by the authorities.”
The Duff brothers have been supportive of the University of Southern Mississippi, spurring the university to rename its athletic facility the Jim and Thomas Duff Athletic Center a few years ago in recognition of their $2 million donation to the Southern Miss athletic department. College Board documents list that donation as the second-largest in the university’s history.
Tommy and Jim Duff operate Duff Capital Investors, which owns nine companies including T.L. Wallace Construction, truck-tire dealer Southern Tire Mart and wood chip hauler Forest Products Transports, all based in Columbia. The Duffs also own Pine Belt Ford and Pine Belt Chevrolet of Purvis, T.K. Stanley Oilfield Services of Waynesboro, Jackson-based refrigerated trucking firm KLLM Transport Services, Southern Insurance Group and Texas-based Frozen Food Express.
Clarion-Ledger reporter Therese Apel contributed to this report.