From the Country Star

Former lawmen awaiting sentencing

By Doug Russell, News Editor

June 25 — Former McIntosh County lawmen who used their positions to get cash from motorists are each free on $10,000 bond while awaiting sentencing.

Former Sheriff Terry Alan Jones, 36, and Undersheriff Mykol Travis Brookshire, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of conspiracy under color of law to interfere with interstate commerce. Each could be fined up to $250,000 and imprisoned for up to five years.

No sentencing date has been set.

“The crime for which the defendants stand convicted, and await sentencing, is a kind of piracy,” said U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling. “No parrot, no patch over the eye, and no ship, but highway robbery — except that most of the money couriers they stopped weren’t exactly innocent.”

According to the FBI, the two would stop vehicles and search for contraband such as weapons, narcotics or money derived from illegal activity. If they found large sums of money, they would take some of all of it. They’d then report any money they did not take for themselves as seized money and ask for it to be forfeited.

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