Woman to spend 41 months in jail, pay $225K for prison kickbacks
Published 7:01 pm Friday, May 24, 2019
A judge is sentencing a woman to more than three years in prison for paying kickbacks to Mississippi’s former corrections commissioner.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Friday sentenced Teresa Malone to 41 months in prison for one count of bribery, also ordering her to pay $225,000 in restitution.
Malone pleaded guilty in October 2017 but her sentencing was repeatedly delayed because of lung transplant complications.
She’s the widow of late state House member Bennett Malone.
Malone paid kickbacks to then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps after Epps steered a $5,000-a-month consulting contract to Malone. Court records show she got more than $170,000.
Malone was paid $225,000 from October 2010 through July 2014, netting more than $170,000 after kickbacks to Epps.
Epps took bribes and kickbacks from multiple contractors.