District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on Wednesday of this week, a Washington Parish jury found Cody Blaine Williams, 35, guilty of attempted malfeasance in office relating to his employment at the Rayburn Correctional Center (RCC). Williams is a resident of T.C. Brumfield Road north of Franklinton.
The jury deliberated slightly more than an hour before returning its guilty verdict. Williams was employed at RCC for more than 15 years and had attained the rank of Captain at the time he was terminated in September 2021 as a result of his arrest.
Assistant District Attorneys Jason Cuccia and Gary Tromblay prosecuted the case. Judge Alan Zaunbrecher presided over the trial. Detective Raymond Myers with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office led the investigation.
According to testimony from the trial, RCC set up an account with the local feed store from which it obtained the dog food needed for the prison’s canine unit. One of the job duties of Williams was to obtain the necessary purchase orders from the finance department whenever the prison needed to replenish its supply of dog food. The purchase orders specified the brand and price of the dog food that was to be purchased. Beginning in June of 2021, Williams instructed the store to substitute a cheaper brand of dog food and generate a store credit for the difference in value. Williams would then use the store credits to purchase items from the store for his personal use. At some point, the feed store alerted authorities at Rayburn of what Williams was doing. An investigation was initiated and resulted in the determination that Williams had defrauded RCC of $1,449.29 in funds through personal purchases he made using the unauthorized RCC credits he had established at the store.
During closing arguments at the conclusion of the trial, ADA Cuccia told the jury “The defense wants to argue this case is minutiae or it’s a big deal about nothing, and so you should acquit him. However, as each and every one of you agreed during jury selection, no amount of theft by a public employee is acceptable. We’ve presented the evidence to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and the only just verdict is to convict him.”
Williams, is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Zaunbrecher on November 15th. The penalty for attempted malfeasance is incarceration for up to two and one-half (2½) years.
Williams also faces another trial soon. In February2025 he will be tried on charges of possession of illegal narcotics with intent to distribute, and criminal conspiracy.
The drug charges resulted from a 2021 investigation which was also handled by the Washington Parsh Sheriff’s Office.
According to WPSO, the investigation revealed that Williams had been receiving large quantities of marijuana into Washington Parish for distribution purposes. At one point, Williams stated to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics that he was a member of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force, when in fact he never has been an employee of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office or a member of the Drug Task Force.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, there is no connection between the two cases, and each of the arrests resulted from separate investigations.
