Federal authorities have charged a second person in relation to an ongoing bribery case that led to the Aug. 14 resignation of former Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee, who pleaded guilty to a bribery charge that same day.
Court documents suggest the latest charges relate to at least one other elected Jackson official.
Sherik Marve Smith pleaded guilty on Oct. 17 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, WLBT reported Thursday morning.
A bill of information, which the court unsealed on Thursday, alleges that Smith conspired with an unnamed person to “corruptly give, offer and agree to give things of value, including cash payments and campaign contributions, to Unindicted Co-conspirator B and Unindicted Co-conspirator C from Individual 1 and Individual 2 in exchange for Unindicted Co-conspirator B and Co-conspirator C committing official acts in their roles as elected officials of the City of Jackson, Mississippi.”
The U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of Lee stated that in February and March of this year, she conspired to take thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using her power as a city council member to vote in favor of a fictitious real-estate development project proposed by two Nashville-based real-estate developers.
Unknown to both Lee and Smith, Unidentified Individual 1 and Unidentified Individual 2 were undercover FBI agents.
Smith must repay the federal government $20,000.
In May, the FBI raided Lee’s home as well as the office and businesses of Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, though the agency has yet to say whether the raids were related to the indictments or what prompted them to raid Owens’ properties.
Besides Lee, authorities have not yet publicly named any other elected officials as targets of the investigation. Her sentencing is set for Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. She faces up to five years in prison.
The City of Jackson held a special election to fill the now vacant Ward 2 City Council seat on Oct. 1. That election ended in a runoff between Tina Clay and Marcus Cheatham.
The runoff election is Oct. 22.
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