Daily Journal

TISHOMINGO COUNTY – A two-vehicle accident left one dead and others injured Saturday night near Highway 30 in Tishomingo County.

Sheila Bellocq of Metairie, Louisiana, struck a car driven by Cara Russell, of Smithville around 6 p.m.

Bellocq died, while Russell and the two passengers in her vehicle were taken to the hospital.

The accident remains under investigation.

OLIVER

By W. Derek Russell

Daily Journal

TUPELO – A man accused of robbing the Verona Renasant Bank location on May 1 has now entered a guilty plea in Lee County Circuit Court.

Michael Oliver, of Saltillo, faced charges in conjunction with the Renasant Bank branch on Raymond Avenue last week.

It was reported that Oliver entered the bank, went to a teller window and handed the teller a note. The note demanded money and mentioned a weapon. Oliver took the money and left the bank.

Oliver’s prior arrests consist of aggravated assault with a weapon, possession of a firearm, criminal attempt murder, robbery by force and distribution of drugs.

Oliver apologized to his family for his actions in court. He pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and will serve 15 years in prison, after he is handed over to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

derek.russell@journalinc.com

Twitter: @wderekrussell

MIXON

Monroe Journal

An Aberdeen woman is in jail on a meth charge.

Leia Jeanette Mixon, 23, was arrested by the Amory Police Department and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance (ICE). She is currently being housed at the Monroe County Detention Center.

Mixon was already out on a felony bond. That bond has been revoked.

By W. Derek Russell

Daily Journal

TUPELO – A young man is in critical condition after a Sunday night shooting at One D’Ville Place apartments in Tupelo.

“Right now we’re investigating the shooting that took place around 5:30 p.m.,” said Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre. “We have one person that was shot, and he is in critical condition at the North Mississippi Medical Center. We are looking for the suspect involved, we have some leads that we’re following up on as we speak.”

The shooting remains under investigation.

derek.russell@journalinc.com

Twitter: @wderekrussell

Mary Smith, the mother of brothers Marvin and Calvin Banks, who are both charged in the shooting deaths of two Hattiesburg police officers on Saturday night, speaks to reporters outside the Forrest County Courthouse in Hattiesburg. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

By Jay Reeves

Associated Press

HATTIESBURG – One of two brothers accused of fatally shooting two police officers has mental problems and is addicted to drugs, appearing high in photos after he was arrested, his mother said Monday.

Mary Smith told The Associated Press that her son smoked “spice” daily and had been hearing voices ever since he was attacked and hit in the head with a pipe several years ago.

Smith’s son, 29-year-old Marvin Banks, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate. The officers were slain Saturday night in what authorities have so far only described as a traffic stop gone awry.

A preliminary investigation indicated Deen had pulled over a vehicle for speeding and then called for backup, which is when Tate arrived. Gunshots erupted in the road near the Hattiesburg Housing Authority office. Banks’ girlfriend, Joanie Calloway, was also charged with two counts of murder.

His younger brother, 26-year-old Curtis Banks, is charged with accessory to murder and Marvin’s friend Cornelius Clark is charged with obstruction. It’s not clear what warranted those charges.

Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said it was too early to say who shot the officers or how many shots were fired, and it wasn’t clear what prompted the gunfire.

A memorial was planned for the officers Monday afternoon.

Smith told AP that she has no doubt that Marvin killed the officers. She said he looked high in photos after his arrest.

“You could tell something was wrong with him,” she said, speaking on the steps of the Forrest County Courthouse, where she had come to find out more information about her sons’ arrest. “I hate it for these families that he wasn’t in his right mind.”

Marvin and his 6-year-old son lived with Smith, who works the night shift at a nursing home. She said she was resting before going to work when she got a call Saturday night that two officers had been shot and that Marvin, who is known by “Big Boy,” was involved.

After that, Curtis called her and said he had nothing to do with it and had been at home at his apartment at the time of the shooting.

‘It was the devil’

Smith said several years ago that Marvin was attacked by a man who hit him in the head with a pipe. The reason for the attack wasn’t clear, but he spent time in intensive care and has had problems ever since.

TATE

DEEN

She said she repeatedly urged him to get help for his drug addiction and apparent mental illness, but he wouldn’t go.

Katie Walmon, the mother of Marvin’s son, said he changed after his head injury and drug use.

“After that, he said he was hearing voices in his head. I say it was the devil,” she said.

Smith said she was trying to get lawyers for both of her sons. She said after Curtis’ arrest, he complained to her that officers had kicked him repeatedly, stripped him of his clothes and were holding him in cold cell. She has not talked to Marvin since his arrest.

Their initial court appearance is set for Monday afternoon.

Smith said officers often stop young black men without cause in Hattiesburg, sometimes simply to ask them what they are doing.

“The way police here in Hattiesburg harass young black men, you could tell something was going to happen, but I never thought it would be my sons,” she said.

Police didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call Monday.

Flags were at half-staff at the courthouse and roses decorated a chain-link fence near the spot where the officers were killed. Nearby, bloodstains still marked the asphalt where gunfire erupted.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday that the officers’ deaths “is made even more tragic by the fact that, on the day they were killed this past Saturday, the country began observing Police Week – a time when we pause to remember and honor the more than 20,000 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.”

Strain said Marvin Banks also was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft for fleeing in squad car after the shooting.

“He didn’t get very far, three or four blocks, and then he ditched that vehicle,” Strain said.

Married and the father of two, Deen, 34, is a former “Officer of the Year” in Hattiesburg.

Family spokesman J.T. Taylor said he would want his friend of more than 30 years to know that he was going to take care of his family.

“There’s a lot of shock but the family and community is coming together. The community has come in to help them out,” Taylor said.

Tate, 25, graduated from the police academy last year.

Tate grew up in Starkville, 150 miles north of Hattiesburg. Strain said he was a 2014 graduate of the law enforcement academy.

He was known to his friends as “CoCo,” said his stepfather, B. Lonnie Ross of Jackson, adding that Tate was 12 when they met and already wanted to be a policeman.

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Associated Press reporters Jeff Amy and Josh Replogle contributed to this report.

COLEMAN

Daily Journal

TUPELO – A Tupelo man has been charged with embezzlement.

Garical L. Coleman, 21, was arrested Saturday by the Tupelo Police Department. He is accused of embezzling from Sam’s Club.

Bond has not been set.

BANKS

By Jay Reeves and Jeff Amy

Associated Press

HATTIESBURG – A judge has denied bond to a man accused of shooting two Hattiesburg police officers and charges against his girlfriend have been reduced.

Marvin Banks faces two counts of capital murder in the Saturday shootings of Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate.

Murder charges against Joanie Calloway were lowered to an accessory, meaning authorities believe Banks was the triggerman. So far, officials have described the shooting only as a traffic stop gone awry.

Authorities say one officer was shot in the head, the other in the back. Both were wearing bullet-proof vests.

Banks’ brother, Curtis Banks, was also charged as an accessory. His bond on a previous drug charge was revoked, meaning he is likely to stay jailed.

Banks’ friend is also being charged with obstruction.

By Riley Manning

Daily Journal

TUPELO – The Northeast Mississippi Law Enforcement Memorial shed honor on the spouses and other loved ones of police officers Monday evening.

Under the weight of the killing of two Hattiesburg Police Department officers over the weekend, the previously planned ceremony struck chords all too familiar for law enforcement families in Tupelo.

“When I heard the news Saturday, it stopped me in my tracks. It was like a punch in the stomach,” Mayor Jason Shelton told the crowd at the BancorpSouth Arena conference hall. “Because of everything that’s happened here, nothing – including the tornado – compares to December 23, 2013.”

For most, such ceremonies may be merely an obligation of civic pride, Shelton said, but for families, they are essentially another visitation. Tupelo Chief of Police Bart Aguirre commended the plaid-clad cadets, officers-to-be lining the back wall of the room, for choosing the profession at a time when law enforcement is enduring harsh criticism.

“We know first hand the devastating effects from the death of an officer. On December 23, our world was turned upside down. Our city wept for (Sgt. Gale) Stauffer,” Aguirre said. “These cadets are beginning their careers without knowing what’s in store for them. But for love of the job, family, and country, they will succeed in their profession, and achieve the goal they seek.”

Camille Mangum spoke on behalf of the Wives of Warriors initiative begun after Stauffer’s death. The group includes 175 members and spans nine counties, and it works as a support system for spouses of law enforcers.

“It takes a lot to understand the one you love who loves law enforcement,” she said. “But when we stand on that thin blue line, we’re family, not coworkers.”

The Tupelo Police Department’s Corporal Rob Edwards said a police marriage can only be as strong as a spouse, rather than the officer.

“You don’t get awards for changing diapers or putting up with us being grumpy after a month of night shift,” he said. “Doing our job is never safe, but that’s when we’re happiest. We can’t pass a crime and let criminals get away.”

Stauffer’s widow, Beth Stauffer, took the podium before fallen officers were honored with a 21-gun salute by the TPD honor guard. She announced she and her family would be moving to Baton Rouge to start a clean slate.

“I know officers feel sometimes like they don’t make a difference. Gale would get disgusted sometimes with the uphill battle. But he never knew the impact his life – or death – would make,” she said. “People told me I would find a ‘new normal,’ and for me, that’s always moving forward. That’s how I honor Gale, by moving forward with confidence. Tupelo and North Mississippi are truly part of us. Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for making us your family.”

riley.manning@journalinc.com

HENRY

Daily Journal

CORINTH – A Farmington man faces multiple charges after allegedly being stopped with drugs and then trying to smuggle them into the jail.

Monday, Alcorn Narcotics officers, along with Farmington police, stopped David Henry on County Road 200 to serve a warrant for the sale of methamphetamine. During the arrest, officers found scales and paraphernalia.

While at the jail, an officer observed Henry, 24, of 83 County Road 226, attempting to hide a bag of methamphetamine, and he was also charged with introducing drugs to a correction facility. Justice Court Judge Jimmy McGee set Henry’s bond at $20,000 for the two charges.

Daily Journal

STARKVILLE – No students were injured in a Tuesday morning wreck involving a pickup and a Starkville school bus.

Starkville School Transportation Director Kelvin Gibson said around 7:30 a.m., a bus was traveling east on Highway 12 and was making a left turn in the Longview community. A pickup attempted to pass the bus and clipped the left front of the bus, causing the truck to go into the ditch and roll several times.

“There were only seven middle school and high school students on the bus,” said Gibson. “They were checked out by EMTs and released to their parents. The bus driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital complaining of neck pain.”

The unrestrained pickup driver suffered moderate injuries, said Sgt. Criss Turnipseed of the Mississippi Highway Patrol. The pickup driver was given misdemeanor citations for no proof of insurance and improper passing.

PHARR

By Adam Armour

Itawamba Times

FULTON – Fulton police have charged a Golden resident with planning to sell prescription pills.

Michael E. Pharr, 26, of Pearson Road, Golden, was arrested on May 6 and charged with possession of narcotics with intent to sell.

Pharr was arrested after police responded to a possible drunk and disorderly call from the Murphy USA gas station located at Walmart in Fulton. According to officials with the Fulton Police Department, upon arrival, officers identified Pharr and were notified he had several active warrants in Itawamba County. Police say Pharr was searched and discovered to be in possession of scheduled pills.

Pharr was given an initial court appearance before Justice Court Judge

Barry Davis, who set his bond at $5,000. He is currently released from jail on bond.

MONROE

Daily Journal

JACKSON – A Clay County man who had his parole revoked in 2012 will get another chance at freedom.

Monroe Randle, 68, was convicted of murder in Clay County Circuit Court in 1980 and sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled in 2010, but that was revoked when he was arrested in July 2012 and charged with simple assault and possession of a firearm. Randle appealed the revocation because he had never been convicted on the new charges.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals agreed Tuesday, remanding the case back to Clay County Circuit Court for an evidentiary hearing.

MCDONALD

Daily Journal

JACKSON – A Chickasaw County man will have to spend the next five years in prison after the Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled against him.

On Tuesday, the court affirmed the decision of the Chickasaw County Circuit Court to revoke the probation of Donnie McDonald, 57, and sentence him to five years in prison.

McDonald pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and possession of precursors in 2010 and was sentenced to 20 years, suspended, and five years of probation. In December 2012, he was arrested and charged with possession of felony amounts of marijuana and methamphetamine with intent to distribute both.

After a probation revocation hearing, the trial court ordered McDonald to serve five years of the original 20-year sentence, with 15 suspended. He appealed the decision, in part saying he was denied due process.

The higher court disagreed. In his opinion, Chief Judge Joseph Lee noted that McDonald failed three drug tests and twice failed to complete a drug treatment program while on probation. He added that McDonald was arrested with felony amounts of marijuana and methamphetamine.

By William Moore

Daily Journal

TUPELO – The man killed by gunfire at a Tupelo apartment complex was Christopher Scales, according to Lee County Coroner Carolyn Green.

Scales, 21, was shot Sunday evening at One D’Ville Place apartments in Tupelo. He died Monday night at North Mississippi Medical Center, according to Green.

Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre said the shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. and police are still investigating the incident.

“We are looking for the suspect involved,” said Aguirre. “We have some leads that we’re following up on.”

Daily Journal

JACKSON – State Auditor Stacey Pickering’s office has issued a demand of $13, 934.97 to former Pontotoc County Deputy Chancery Clerk Allison Stegall.

Evidence shows that cash paid by local taxpayers on land redemption releases was taken before the daily deposit was made in the Chancery Clerk’s Land Redemption Account. Auditors from the State Auditor’s Office discovered a shortage in the land redemption account while conducting the annual audit in October of 2013.

Stegall resigned from her position as Deputy Clerk in December of 2013.

“I’m proud of the work that both our county auditors and investigators have done on this case, and we look forward to making the taxpayers whole,” Pickering said.

Lauren Wood | Buy at photos.djournal.com
A Lee County Sheriff‘s deputy drives down Jefferson Street on Tuesday patrolling the neighborhood for an escaped inmate.

GOLIDAY

By William Moore

Daily Journal

TUPELO – Police are actively looking for a man who walked away from a work release program this afternoon.

Montecuz Montez Goliday, 23, was incarcerated at the Lee County Work Center on Front Street in downtown Tupelo. He walked away around 5 p.m.

“He is considered a non-violent offender,” said Sheriff Jim Johnson. “We know he doesn’t have a vehicle or anything so we are searching for him in the area.”

Officers and K-9 units with both the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Tupelo Police Department are currently searching downtown Tupelo for the suspect.

Johnson said more information will be released on the suspect shortly.

Daily Journal

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a tractor trailer around midnight Tuesday in Oktibbeha County.

According to the Mississippi Highway Patrol, 71-year-old Willie McKinney of Vardaman was standing in the roadway on Highway 25 South near Poorhouse Road when he was hit by a 2007 Peterbilt driven by Lonnie Thompson, 53, of Corinth.

McKinney was pronounced dead at the scene. Thompson was not injured.

There are no charges pending, and the accident remains under investigation by MHP.

By William Moore

Daily Journal

CORINTH – Law enforcement in two counties are searching for a third suspect in armed robbery in rural Alcorn County.

“We’re not releasing much right now,” said Alcorn County Sheriff’s Investigator Reggie Anderson. “We got a call around 3 p.m. of an armed robbery. We have two suspects in custody and are looking for a third person of interest.”

A man and a woman are in custody in Alcorn County, while a third person remains on the loose in neighboring Tishomingo County.

According to reports, an elderly woman was robbed and beaten on County Road 326, east of Corinth. The third suspect in the robbery led Alcorn County deputies on a chase into Tishomingo County. The man stopped the car near Burnsville and fled on foot.

Tuesday evening, officers with the Alcorn and Tishomingo sheriff’s departments, along with Burnsville Police and the Mississippi Highway Patrol, were searching the area around Burnsville for the third person.

DEEN

TATE

By Jeff Amy

Associated Press

JACKSON – Authorities say they want to question two more people in connection with the fatal shooting of two Mississippi police officers last weekend.

Surveillance video from Saturday night, hours after the shooting, shows a man and a woman getting out of a Cadillac Escalade at the motel where police later arrested Marvin Banks, said Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain. The 29-year-old Banks is accused of shooting officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate.

Strain said late Tuesday that authorities don’t believe the man and the woman were directly involved in the shooting.

Also Tuesday, the FBI and local police looked for the gun used in the shooting near the location where they say Banks abandoned a police car he stole after the officers were shot.

“There was no weapon found, so that search will continue,” Strain said.

He said investigators believe they have a strong case even without the gun.

Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home said the 34-year-old Deen, a former Hattiesburg “Officer of the Year” who was married and had two children, will be buried Thursday in nearby Sumrall after a funeral in Hattiesburg.

Craft Funeral Home in McComb said a funeral will be held Saturday in Hattiesburg for the 25-year-old Tate, with burial for the 2014 police academy graduate to follow in Starkville.

Banks is jailed without bond on two capital murder charges. When Deen stopped a Hyundai driven by Banks’ 22-year-old girlfriend, Joanie Calloway, for speeding, he decided to search the vehicle, Strain said Monday. After Tate arrived as backup, Deen asked Banks, Calloway and passenger Cornelius Clark to get out.

At that point, authorities have said, Banks shot Deen in the face and Tate in the lower back. Both officers were wearing bullet-resistant vests that couldn’t protect them against the gunshots.

Police later arrested Banks at a motel more than 5 miles away. Prosecutors have charged Banks’ younger brother, 26-year-old Curtis Banks, as an accessory after the fact to murder, apparently for driving his brother to the location where he was arrested.

Marvin Banks had already done two stints in state prison and faced unresolved drug charges when Deen pulled over his girlfriend. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to possession of a stolen handgun, got a split sentence and was released from prison after serving about a year. But he returned to prison after violating terms of his release.

Calloway is also charged as an accessory after the fact, while the 28-year-old Clark is charged with obstruction. All four remained jailed Tuesday.

At an initial court appearance Monday, Forrest County Justice Court Judge Gay Polk-Payton denied bond to Marvin Banks. Banks is also charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft for fleeing a few blocks in a squad car after the shooting.

Polk-Payton set Curtis Banks’ bond at $100,000. But, like his brother, Curtis Banks faced a pending drug charge, and Polk-Payton revoked that bond, meaning Curtis Banks is also likely to remain in jail. The judge set $75,000 bonds for both Calloway and Clark.

All four have been assigned public defenders. Strain said all four have given statements to police.

The charges could be the bottom of what Marvin Banks’ mother, Mary Smith, describes as a downward spiral for her son. Smith said that when she saw the booking photos of her 26-year-old son, she knew something was off.

“He was sick and out of his head, and I tried to get him some help,” she said Monday morning on the steps of the Forrest County Courthouse, where she had gone to find out more information about the arrest.

Banks had been smoking synthetic marijuana, known as spice, every day, Smith said.

“He was on that spice. He was on every drug there was. Spice, powder, marijuana, drinking,” she said.

More than 1,000 people filled a hall at the Hattiesburg convention center Monday for a memorial for the officers. With photos of the uniformed men projected above the stage, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant – himself a former sheriff’s deputy – said the city was enduring a difficult, sad time.

“We will persevere. We will prevail,” Bryant said.

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Associated Press writer Jay Reeves contributed from Hattiesburg.