The former Leake County deputy sheriff at the center of an evidence tampering investigation which led to dozens of drug cases being dismissed in September turned himself in Monday. Sheriff Randy Atkinson says Justin Moore is facing 31 counts of evidence tampering. Moore surrendered to agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation at the Leake County Sheriff’s Office and was jailed in Neshoba County with his bond set at $155,000. He would have to wear an ankle monitor if he’s released.
When the investigation was first announced, District Attorney Steven Kilgore said all cases originating in the sheriff’s office dating back to 2019 were being re-examined and that 31 indicted cases had been dismissed. Other cases that hadn’t made it to a grand jury were closed. Most were drug cases.
Atkinson says he’s doing everything he can to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. “Basically, what we did is we changed some policies on the intake of any kind of narcotics.” And the sheriff says, even though the last couple of months have been tough, his department has continued to fulfill its responsibilities. “Even when this case first came to my knowledge, that evidence tampering had been going on, we continued on serving the citizens of this county like always. We had to deal with this investigation and now that it’s partially behind us, it’s business as usual.”
