Miss. prison consultant: Epps 'was basically my boss'
Mississippi prison consultant Sam Waggoner couldn't get as much favor from the court as he would have liked during his sentencing Thursday.
That's because, as a lower-level member of the Mississippi Department of Corrections bribery scheme in which he pleaded guilty, Waggoner doesn't have the kind of information prosecutors called "fruitful," like, say, the information former Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps has.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate called this an "ironic circumstance" Thursday just before sentencing the 62-year-old businessman from Carthage to five years in prison with a two-year supervised release.
Wingate alluded to the fact conspirators higher on the bribery hierarchy, like Epps, likely recruited the people they can then name to law enforcement in exchange for a lighter sentence. Epps has not been sentenced.
Waggoner admitted to giving Epps a portion of his commission checks from the prison telephone contractor he worked for, but told federal agents that at some point before their investigation began, he wrote a letter to Epps explaining his desire to discontinue their agreement.
"I don't want the FBI knocking on my door in the middle of the night," Waggoner told Wingate he wrote in the letter.
But Epps ripped up the letter into "teeny, tiny pieces," flushed it down the toilet and told the consultant that business would continue as usual, Waggoner said.
"He was basically my boss," Waggoner said. "He could hurt my business."
Wingate saw Waggoner's attempt to end his involvement in the scheme as the result of a mix between remorse and fear of being investigated. The five-year sentence, recommended by prosecutors, was the compromise.
RELATED: Waggoner pleads guilty to bribery
The FBI charged Waggoner with one count of bribery related to his payments of bribes and kickbacks to Epps from sometime in 2012 until at least Aug. 26, 2014.
Waggoner worked as a consultant for Global Tel-Link, which provided telephone services at state prison facilities. Waggoner received 5 percent of the revenue as a consultant.
He acknowledged he "corruptly gave" kickbacks twice in 2014 with the intent to influence Epps.
Waggoner entered a guilty plea in August 2015 and agreed to forfeit $200,000 in cash. By statute, the charges carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Waggoner represents just one piece of the massive federal corruption case against Epps, who steered hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts in exchange for bribes.
Epps pleaded guilty in February 2015 to money laundering and filing false tax returns in connection with the scheme, through which Epps gained more than $1.4 million over five years.
After the court pushed back his sentencing, Epps is set to appear in May. In December, Wingate rejected Epps' plea to release him from jail until then. The judge revoked Epps' bail on Nov. 4 after the former corrections commissioner was charged with stealing outdoor lights and a control box from the house he forfeited to the federal government.
He faces up to 23 years in prison and has forfeited $1.7 million in assets.
Others embroiled in Epps' scheme include businessman Cecil McCrory; former state senator Irb Benjamin of Madison; Teresa Malone, the wife of a former state representative; Texas businessman Mark Longoria; Dr. Carl Reddix; business and government consultant Robert Simmons; and former MDOC insurance broker Guy E. Butch Evans.
In 2015, lawmakers passed a state contract reform measure in response to the Epps scandal, but it was weakened through the legislative process.
On Monday, John Polk and Jerry Turner, the Senate and House chairmen of their chamber's respective Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee, announced their plan to strengthen these laws.
RELATED: Polk, Turner take another shot at contract reforms
"We have found that some state agencies have found ways around the intended controls, and have interfered with the full intent of the law," Polk said in the news release.
Turner said in announcing the legislation, "Today I am pleased to announce the introduction of new legislation which will greatly enhance standards for procurements by the solicitation of 'Requests For Proposals.' Also, the Department of Finance and Administration ‘Public Procurement Review Board' (PPRB) will be reconstituted to include the powers and duties of the (Personal Service Contract Review Board).”
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Contact Anna Wolfe at 601-961-7326 or awolfe@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter.