JACKSON, Miss. – Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps pled guilty Wednesday to two charges of federal corruption.
Epps confessed to tax evasion and to taking bribes from former Rankin County School Board President Cecil McCrory, who got lucrative business contracts through Epps with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
In a 49 count indictment, Epps had been accused of accepting about $2 million in bribes and kickbacks over the past eight years in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in prison contracts. McCory, his co-conspirator, was accused of bribery to get some of those contracts and consulting fees.
Epps, could testify against McCrory in his scheduled early April trial.
