Greenville Police Officers Arrested on Civil Rights Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 02, 2012 |
OXFORD, MS—Felicia C. Adams, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, and Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announce the arrest of Bryant Maurice Kennedy, 28, Cedric D. Sorrell, 26, and Samuel E. McVay, Jr., 26, on charges of conspiracy and deprivation, under color of law, of the constitutional rights of an individual to be secure in his person and free of unreasonable search and seizure, and in so doing, subjecting the individual to bodily injury, pursuant to indictments returned July 24, 2012, by a federal grand jury.
The indictment alleges that during a traffic stop of an individual in Greenville on May 3, 2012, by Greenville police officers, the individual was knocked to the ground and injured and had approximately $1,300 in U.S. currency removed from his wallet. Kennedy, Sorrell, and McVay, at the time police officers with the Greenville Police Department, appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Jane Virden in Greenville, Mississippi, today. Each was released on $10,000 bond.
Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi, stated: “In order to effectively serve and protect their communities, law enforcement officers are entrusted with certain powers and authority, which they are expected to wield with the utmost integrity. The officers arrested today are charged with abuse of that power and authority. I appreciate the cooperation and professional handling of this matter by the investigators, the prosecutors, and especially Greenville Police Chief Freddie Cannon, who brought these allegations to our attention.”
If convicted on both counts, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines. They each could be ordered to pay restitution to the victim of their crimes, as well as required to forfeit any proceeds from the crimes.
An indictment is merely a charge and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert H. Norman.