Former Holmes County Supervisor Sentenced for Bribery

JACKSON, MS—Former Holmes County Supervisor Larry Dennis, 59, of Pickens, was sentenced in federal court today to thirty months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for bribery, U.S. Attorney John Dowdy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced.

Pursuant to the plea agreement in this case, Dennis was required to immediately resign his position as a supervisor with the Holmes County Board of Supervisors, and to neither run for public office, apply for, or be employed by any governmental entity in the future.

On April 24, 2010, a series of deadly tornados swept through Central Mississippi. In the wake of those tornados, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted with a company to remove and dispose of debris in Yazoo and Attala Counties. To expedite the cleanup process, this company sought and received permission from the Holmes County Board of Supervisors to dump debris from the Yazoo County disaster area at a nearby Holmes County landfill.

Shortly thereafter, a company representative sought consent from the Holmes County Board of Supervisors to dump debris from the Attala County disaster area at a different Holmes County landfill. This second landfill was located in Beat 3, which Larry Dennis represented in his position as a Holmes County supervisor. Dennis advised the company representative that he had obtained the authorization letter from the Board of Supervisors, but he would not provide the letter to the company unless the company representative gave him a “donation” in the amount of $3,500.00. A check was subsequently given to Dennis in the amount of $3,500.00. After receiving the check, defendant Dennis supplied the authorization letter to the company representative.

A short time later, in the process of removing and disposing of debris, the same company damaged a road which was maintained by Holmes County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required the company to repair the damaged road and obtain a release from Holmes County before the Corps would continue to pay the company the remaining amount (almost $400,000.00) for debris removal and disposal. Dennis informed the company representative that he would not give him a letter from the Holmes County Board of Supervisors releasing the company until the company representative gave him another “donation” in the amount of $3,500.00

Pursuant to Dennis’s demand, the company representative subsequently hand-delivered $3,500.00 cash to him on two separate occasions: $1,000.00 cash on July 16, 2011, and $2,500.00 cash on July 22, 2011. At various times throughout the investigation, Dennis instructed the company representative to call him on his personal cell phone, and not his countyissued cell phone, because the county could pull the records.

“Larry Dennis shamelessly exploited his elected office to personally enrich himself,” said U.S. Attorney Dowdy, “Prison is the perfect destination for someone who violates his oath of office and so cavalierly uses his position as a public official to corruptly obtain money in the wake of a natural disaster.”

“This is a sad example of a public official attempting to serve himself rather than his constituents,” said Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi. “In this case, Dennis used debris removal work as an opportunity to clean up in another way.”

U.S. Attorney Dowdy praised the efforts of special agents from the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst who prosecuted the case.