Mississippi Today
Jackson City Council VP resigns, admits to federal bribery charge
Jackson City Council’s vice president pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal bribery charge related to a proposed downtown development hours after resigning from her office.
Angelique Lee pleaded guilty to everything detailed in a bill of information.
Lee, who represented northwest Jackson’s Ward 2, admitted to a conspiracy to commit bribery by accepting โcash, deposits and other giftsโ valued at more than $5,000 from two federal agents posing as real estate developers from Nashville, Tennessee, who were attempting to influence her and reward her for her vote. She accepted those bribes from the undercover agents through an โunindicted co-conspirator,โ according to court documents. Twice they gave her a credit card to go shopping. โDon’t go too crazy but have an fโ great time,โ the bogus developer told her, according to testimony at Wednesday’s plea hearing.
In March, the โFacility Solutions Teamโ was one of three companies that bid to build a 335-room hotel across the street from the Jackson Convention Complex. That hotel was slated to include an open entertainment space and a parking garage.
Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens II is listed as the registered agent for the Facility Solutions Team, which is a limited liability company.
The business’ address, the Downtown Cigar Company which is owned by Owens, was raided by the FBI on May 22, along with Owens’ office in the Hinds County Courthouse.
Lee’s attorney, Aafram Sellers, acknowledged the charges against his client are related to the hotel project.
Owens referred questions about Wednesday’s developments to his attorney Rob McDuff. McDuff told Mississippi Today in a statement that it is his understanding the federal investigation is not related to Owens’ work as district attorney.
McDuff acknowledged that Owens has participated in real estate business deals during the past 15 years, including owning two pieces of property in downtown Jackson.
โTwo gentlemen who claimed they were successful large-scale developers with their own development company raised with him the possibility of building a convention center hotel in Jackson,โ McDuff said. โHe believed them, and after multiple conversations, agreed to help them. It turns out they were operatives for the FBI.โ
According to the bill of information, Lee voted in favor of the real estate development project proposed by the Nashville developers and supported the closure of a road to aid that project.
โIt was further an object of the conspiracy to hide, conceal and cover up the nature and scope of the things of value that Lee received, including the true source and nature of the cash payments,โ court papers say.
She received a $10,000 electronic transfer from the FBI sources to pay off a portion of Lee’s campaign debt, a $3,000 cash payment on March 27 of this year, and $6,000 in credit card charges made at a โluxury retail store in the city of Jackson,โ according to the indictment. WLBT reported in July that Lee’s wages were being garnished to pay off nearly $21,000 in campaign debt.
Lee will have to forfeit any and all property or proceeds obtained through the criminal actions, including $13,654 in currency, a pair of Valentino wedge sandals, a Christian Louboutin tote bag, earrings, and other items.
In accepting her guilty plea, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III listed what she could no longer do, including holding office and serving on a jury. Lee’s voice broke as she acknowledged, โYes, sir.โ
Lee faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She is scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Nov. 13.
Lee, 28, who has a master’s degree, defeated former Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis in a special election for the Ward 2 seat in 2020. She was elected to a full term the following year.
City Council President Virgi Lindsay released a copy of Lee’s resignation at a brief news conference Wednesday: โCircumstances that I am not at liberty to discuss at the moment have led to this decision,โ she wrote. โI will greatly miss working with each of you and I am proud of the work that we have done as a collective body for the city of Jackson and its citizens.โ
Lindsay said the council has to meet within the next 10 days to schedule a special election and the election will be held 30 to 45 days after that.
Owens was first elected as district attorney in 2019. At the time of the raids, he posted a statement on Facebook that his office continues to โwork on behalf of the citizens of Hinds County. That has been and will continue to be our primary focus.โ
Owens handled the state’s prosecution of people involved in a massive fraud case involving theft or misspending of millions of federal welfare dollars meant to help the poor.
The Terry native previously served as chief policy counsel and managing attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mississippi office. He attended Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and worked for the late U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran as a legal intern for the Senate Appropriations Committee. Owens is a lieutenant intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Late and missed Medicaid rides triple the contractual limit in July
Six percent of rides provided by the company that coordinates Medicaid recipients’ transportation to medical appointments โ or three times the allowable limit โ were late or missed in July.
The company’s first report to the Division of Medicaid since assuming the contract for transportation services indicated that five percent of scheduled rides were late, and one percent was missed, said Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield.
The company’s contract states that no more than two percent of scheduled rides should be late or missed each day.
For-profit, Denver-based Modivcare is working to lower the percentage of rides that are late or missed, said company spokesperson Melody Lai in an email.
โWe utilize data and close partnerships with healthcare facilities, transportation providers, and members across the state to continuously improve service,โ she said.
Modivcare, which began its three-year, $96.5 million contract with the state on June 8 of this year, scheduled over 52,000 trips with beneficiaries in July.
About 3,000 of the rides were late or missed.
Nearly 40,000 rides were completed after cancellations made by both Medicaid recipients and drivers in July. Thirty-seven trips took 45 minutes longer than average.
Modivcare’s contract mandates it submit monthly reports detailing late or missed trips, along with other information.
Despite filing a public records request, Mississippi Today did not obtain a copy of the company’s first monthly report. The Division of Medicaid indicated that the reports could contain proprietary, third-party trade secrets and that Modivcare had the right to obtain a protective order prohibiting the release of the records.
State Medicaid programs are required to provide rides to doctor appointments to health plan recipients. States can manage the benefit directly, provide the service through Medicaid managed care contracts or contract with a third-party broker, like Mississippi.
Modivcare subcontracts with local transportation companies to provide rides to beneficiaries. Late or missed trips are considered the fault of the transportation companies that provide rides to beneficiaries, Westerfield said.
Mississippi Today last month reported that a woman who uses a wheelchair missed four doctors appointments after Modivcare assumed responsibility for the service in June. She said drivers refused to give her a ride on two occasions because they did not feel comfortable securing her mobility device. On another occasion, Modivcare told her there were no available drivers with the capacity to transport a wheelchair. Another time, the driver did not show up to the location she indicated.
Modivcare’s contract with the Division of Medicaid requires that each wheelchair vehicle have a wheelchair securement device that meets American with Disabilities Act guidelines.
People with disabilities are some of the most frequent users of the service.
Modivcare has been penalized for a high volume of late or missed rides in other states.
The New Jersey Department of Human Services fined Modivcare $1.7 million between 2017 and 2022 for failing to meet its contractual obligations, including missing scheduled pickups, reported the Bergen Record. The New Jersey Legislature considered a bill in 2023 to establish performance and reporting standards for Medicaid transportation services, but the legislation died in committee.
This month, The Maine Monitor wrote that patients have reported missing appointments and being refused rides by the company, which provides transportation services to 16 counties in Maine.
In Georgia, Modivcare and Southeasttrans, another non-emergency medical transportation company, were fined over $1 million from 2018 to 2020 for picking up patients late, KFF reported.
Modivcare was the lowest bidder during the contract selection process in Mississippi. The agency chose it over Medical Transportation Management, Inc., the previous contractor, and Verida, Inc.
Westerfield said that when the number of late or missed trips exceeds the two percent threshold, the division works with the company to correct the issue. If the issue persists, the company will receive official warning letters and the division could choose to seek damages.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1968
Sept. 17, 1968
Diahann Carroll starred in the title role in โJuliaโ โ the first Black actress to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own television series.
She grew up loving singing, dancing and performing in the theater, and she began modeling for Ebony magazine at 15. Three years later, she appeared on the TV show, โChance of a Lifetime,โ taking home the top prize for her performance of the song, โWhy Was I Born?โ That same year, she acted in the film, โCarmen Jonesโ, and appeared in the Broadway musical โHouse of Flowersโ.
In her TV show โJuliaโ, her performance garnered an Emmy nomination for her, and she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series. Mattel even created a Barbie in her image.
After โJuliaโ ended, she returned to Broadway and Hollywood, earning an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1974 film โClaudineโ. She went on to portray Dominique Deveraux in the primetime soap opera โDynastyโ. In 1996, she became the first African American to play the role of Norma Desmond in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, โSunset Boulevardโ.
Carroll devoted much of her time to the Celebrity Action Council, which works with women in rehabilitation from problems with drugs, alcohol or prostitution. Eight years before she died in 2019, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Favre loses another round in lawsuit agaisnt ex-talk show host
Former โUndisputedโ host Shannon Sharpe remains undefeated in his defense of critical remarks toward fellow NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre.
On Monday, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Favre to resurrect a defamation lawsuit against Sharpe, who said on his Sept. 14, 2023, show that the former Southern Miss and Green Bay Packers quarterback stole funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families government program meant for those living in poverty.
Favre hasn’t been charged in the scandal in which six people have been convicted of state and federal charges involving $77 million in federal TANF funds.
In 2022, the state Department of Human Services sued Favre and many others to try and recoup the $77 million that was illegally diverted between 2016 and 2019. A year earlier, the department had sought to recover $1.1 million in TANF funds that Favre received for speeches he never delivered. (The speaking fees had come through the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center.)
After a Sept. 13, 2022, article appeared in Mississippi Today, Sharpe said on the Fox Sports show, โSkip and Shannon: Undisputed,โ that โBretty Favre is taking money from the underservedโ and that he โstole money from people that really needed that money.โ
Favre sent Sharpe a letter, demanding a retraction and asking him to stop making any โfurther defamatory falsehoods against Favre.โ
Sharpe refused, and Favre sued for defamation, saying that Sharpe had falsely accused him of serious crimes and hurt his reputation. Sharpe responded that his remarks are โa classic example of the king of rhetorical hyperbole and loose, figurative languageโ protected by the First Amendment.
A federal judge ruled in Sharpe’s favor, and so did the 5th Circuit. โNothing in life or our law guarantees a person immunity from occasional sharp criticism,โ 5th Circuit District Judge Leslie H. Southwick wrote.
Favre has paid back the $1.1 million, but State Auditor Shad White said in February that Favre still owed more than $700,000 in interest.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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