Former Mississippi Mayor, Ex-City Clerk Arrested, Charged With Embezzlement

[ad_1] by Daniel Johnson September 29, 2025

If they're each convicted, they are often topic to pay as much as a $5,000 superb and spend as much as 20 years in jail

On Sept. 26, the Mississippi State Auditor’s Workplace introduced that Brooksville Mayor Earlie Henley and former Brooksville Metropolis Clerk Shaquita Malone had been arrested and charged with embezzlement.

In response to WLBT, Henley is accused of drafting checks made out to himself with out the signature of a secondary authority, and he allegedly took money withdrawal slips to the financial institution and took money from the town’s accounts.

For her half, Malone is accused of manipulating the town’s payroll system by misrepresenting herself as an hourly worker as an alternative of the salaried employee she really was, and she or he additionally elevated the hourly price of her compensation to obtain cash she was not entitled to.

Malone can be a convicted felon, and as such was not eligible to be employed as a metropolis clerk. If they're each convicted, they might be topic to a superb of as much as $5,000 and a jail time period of as much as 20 years.

As Jacob Walters, the communications director for the auditor’s workplace, advised The Business Dispatch, Henley’s alleged embezzlement totaled $19,998 and was gathered between July and November 2024.

Henley misplaced his most up-to-date reelection bid and resigned in Could, almost two months earlier than his time period was set to conclude. The state auditor can be charging Henley with repaying $184,000, which incorporates the quantity allegedly embezzled, in addition to the civil penalties related to issuing a contract to a enterprise with out the approval of an alderman.

Malone, in the meantime, allegedly embezzled a complete of $7,500 from the town throughout the previous yr; nevertheless, her total whole is $47,000, which incorporates the quantity she allegedly stole, in addition to the civil penalty for working a metropolis job for which she was unqualified.

In response to Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, “We are going to proceed to carry public officers who break the general public’s belief accountable at each degree. Thanks to the prosecutors who took our investigation and to the women and men of the Auditor’s Workplace for his or her tireless work.”