JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Texas man intends to plead guilty to charges that he conspired to bribe Mississippi's former corrections commissioner.
Mark Longoria, the 53-year-old CEO of Houston-based Drug Testing Corp., told a federal magistrate judge Wednesday that he is waiving indictment on charges he conspired to bribe Christopher Epps. Longoria is scheduled to enter a guilty plea later Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate.
Teresa Malone, of Carthage, Mississippi, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that she made regular payments to Epps over nearly four years. Prosecutors say those payments were kickbacks from a consulting contract that Epps allegedly steered to her.
Prosecutors say Longoria paid nearly $230,000 to businessman Cecil McCrory, intending McCrory to use at least part of the money to bribe Epps.
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