Mississippi Insurance Agent Charged in Prison Bribery Case

An insurance agent from Jackson, Miss., is the latest person indicted in a corruption case tied to the former head of the Mississippi prison system.

Guy E. “Butch” Evans, 61, appeared Aug. 24 in U.S. District Court in Jackson and pleaded not guilty to one count of bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

An indictment says that from 2012 to 2014, Evans, owner of Insurance Premium Services, gave kickbacks to Christopher Epps, who was then the state corrections commissioner, in exchange for exclusive access to sell insurance to Department of Corrections employees.

Epps awaits sentencing in the wide-reaching corruption case.

Magistrate Judge Keith Ball released Evans on $10,000 bond and scheduled an Oct. 3 trial before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate. The trial date is likely to change because Evans’ attorney, James Tucker, has a scheduling conflict.

From January 2013 through May 2014, Evans received about $4,300 a month from selling insurance to employees of the prison system, and he paid Epps $1,400 to $1,700 a month in cash, according to the indictment.

The indictment against Evans was sealed after a grand jury handed it down July 13, and Ball unsealed it Aug 22.

Ten people have been charged in bribery schemes related to Epps and a consultant, Cecil McCrory, and federal prosecutors have said more indictments could be handed down.

Epps and McCrory pleaded guilty in February 2015. Epps faces up to 23 years in prison for money laundering and filing false tax returns related to $1.47 million in bribes that prosecutors say he took. He’s also forfeiting $1.7 million in assets. McCrory’s sentence for money laundering conspiracy could be up to 20 years in prison. He’s also forfeiting $1.7 million in assets. Their sentencing has been delayed.

Epps worked for 32 years at the Department of Corrections and was its longest-serving commissioner, with a dozen years in the position. He stepped down a day before indictments against him were made public in November 2014.

McCrory is a former state lawmaker who owned or consulted for companies that received prison contracts.