Tallahatchie County Sheriff William Brewer was arrested Friday on federal narcotics trafficking, extortion and bribery charges that allegedly stretched over a period of 15 years.
Brewer’s arrest was announced in a joint press release Friday afternoon by William C. Lamar, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, and Christopher Freeze, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi.
Brewer, 58, of near Oakland, was charged by criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court at Oxford with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and extortion and bribery under color of official right in violation of the Hobbs Act.
The alleged drug offenses are said to have occurred from June 2003 through June 12, 2018, while the alleged extortion and bribery crimes are said to have been ongoing from June 2003 through July 26, 2018, according to the Aug. 10 complaint filed by an FBI agent.
If convicted, Brewer faces up to 20 years in prison on each count, along with fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million per count.
Brewer appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Percy. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending preliminary and detention hearings scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 10 a.m., at the federal courthouse in Oxford.
Several pages of supporting facts, a part of the investigator’s sworn statement detailing the charges against Brewer, were filed along with the criminal complaint but were not made public.
An official said the U.S. Attorney’s Office plans to keep those records sealed until Tuesday’s hearing at least.
Brewer is being held at the Lafayette County Jail in Oxford, defense attorney Kevin Horan told The Associated Press Friday.
Brewer has served as Tallahatchie County sheriff since being appointed to the post on Oct. 6, 1997. He is in the third year of his fifth elected four-year term.
