(StraightNews.org) – The FBI has raided the offices of a Mississippi prosecutor, but the reason remains unclear. Federal agents are investigating Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and executed search warrants in his office and a cigar store he owns in downtown Jackson.
A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed that the searches were conducted “at multiple locations” but added that the associated affidavit was sealed and no further information would be made public. Mr. Owens said he was “fully cooperating” with the inquiry and that the Hinds County DA’s office would continue functioning as usual.
Mississippi voters first elected Jody Owens to the DA’s office in 2019 and again in 2023. The controversial Democrat received a $500,000 donation from a George Soros-funded PAC in 2019 and promised to explore alternatives to incarceration for convicted criminals. The attorney worked at the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center before entering the DA’s office, and in 2021, oversaw record-breaking crime figures in the Magnolia State capital. The homicide rate in Jackson in 2022 was 97.6 per 100,000 – 15 times than the US average of 6.5.
In 2022, a police incident report included a claim that Jody Owens pointed a gun at Joshua Towns at an apartment block that was home to a woman to whom both men reportedly had romantic attachments. Officers arrived on the scene late in the evening of the incident and found Mr. Towns outside. Records indicate that Towns told the officers he could not go back into his “lady friend’s” apartment because Owens was inside and threatening him with a handgun. Much of the report was later redacted, and Owens insisted the allegations were untrue.
The DA made headlines more recently when he led investigations in the Mississippi welfare fraud case, which prompted criminal charges against several people linked to Hall of Famer Brett Favre. Officials claimed that former NFL quarterback Favre misused millions of dollars in welfare funds by funneling money to private companies. He was not charged with any crime.
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