TUNICA COUNTY SHERIFF FACES NEW CHARGES STEMMING FROM ALLEGED EXTORTION

BRANDON, Miss. - Tunica County Sheriff Jerry Ellington, one day after his
arrest on federal extortion and bribery charges, was served Thursday with a
similar state complaint.

The state documents were served during a court appearance in Rankin County.
A $25,000 bond was ordered by Rankin County Judge Kent McDaniel, appointed
special judge to hear the state case.

There was no immediate word on whether Ellington had posted the bond.

The state alleges that on June 6, Ellington demanded and collected $2,500
from bail bondsmen with Hampton Company National Surety in Rankin County in
exchange for Ellington's referring individuals to the company. The company
writes bonds in Tunica County.

FBI agents first took Ellington into custody Wednesday. He is accused in
the four-count federal indictment of using his office to secure kickbacks
from stolen drug money and from a bail bond business wanting to operate in
his county.

Ellington, who faces four opponents in Tuesday's primary election, took
office in 2000 after John Pickett III resigned after pleading guilty to
extorting a bail bondsman in the largely rural county of 9,200 that is home
to several casinos.

The 45-year-old sheriff was taken to Oxford for an initial appearance
Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander, who
released him on a $10,000 unsecured bond. His arraignment is scheduled for
Tuesday.

Rankin County officials said Ellington was present for Thursday's hearing
in Brandon.

The federal and state charges follow an investigation by the FBI, the U.S.
attorney and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

"We have been investigating this for a long time," U.S. Attorney Jim
Greenlee said.

Jeff Piselli, a spokesman for the county, said Chief Deputy Leonard Conway
had taken over Ellington's duties pending the outcome of the case. The
department has about 150 deputies, officials said.

"The sheriff will remain sheriff until he is voted out of office or he
leaves office for one reason or another. He was elected by the people,"
Piselli said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Lamar said the investigation was continuing
but wouldn't comment on whether other arrests were imminent.

The federal indictment charges that Ellington took payoffs of more than
$5,000 from a bail bondsman from May to July. Ellington allegedly would
take cash payments plus 30 percent of the premium on every bond written in
exchange for allowing the bondsman to operate in the county. Ellington
would also allegedly refer individuals arrested by the sheriff's office to
the bondsman.

Ellington's predecessor, John J. Pinkett III, pleaded guilty in 1999 of
extorting $85,000 over three years from a bail bondsman. He was sentenced
to 20 months in prison.

Federal prosecutors also allege that from June 2002 to Jan. 3, Ellington
took kickbacks of more than $5,000 after promoting a Tunica County deputy
to a narcotics position, where the deputy could steal money from drug
dealers and split it with Ellington.

If convicted, Ellington faces a combined maximum sentence of 60 years in
prison and $1 million in fines.

Ellington's arrest comes more than a month after 17 deputies claimed in a
federal lawsuit that Ellington had threatened their jobs if they did not
support his re-election bid.

The deputies' lawsuit, filed in federal court in Oxford, claimed Ellington
told them their employment depended on purchasing $25 tickets for a May
campaign banquet and providing other assistance to his campaign.