JEFF AMY
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps has been charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a businessman connected to several private prison companies.

Epps is accused of receiving more than $700,000 from 2008 to 2014.

The 49-count federal indictment also charges Cecil McCrory of Brandon with paying Epps to obtain contracts for himself and other companies. It was unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jackson. McCrory and Epps were scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Keith Ball on Thursday.

It’s unclear if other people or entities are being investigated. A motion to seal the indictment when it was filed in August said revealing its existence would hamper the investigation into Epps, McCrory and “others associated with these schemes and crimes.”

Epps resigned Wednesday.

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