Benjamin Ashford|Ex-sheriff in Mississippi is convicted of bribery and giving ammunition to a felon

JACKSON,Benjamin Ashford Miss. (AP) — A former sheriff in Mississippi’s largest county was convicted Friday on federal charges of soliciting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon.

Marshand Crisler was interim sheriff of Hinds County for part of 2021, after the death of the elected sheriff, Lee Vance.

He was solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in exchange for agreeing to provide information about criminal investigations to a person who paid the bribes, according to the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI.

Crisler agreed to protect a jailed relative of that person and to give them a job with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, prosecutors said. He also gave ammunition to a person he knew to be a convicted felon, they said.

He faces up to 10 years in prison. He remains free until sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 6.

Crisler is a former Jackson City Council member. He ran in a 2021 special election to fill the final two years of Vance’s four-year term but lost to Tyree Jones. He challenged Jones again in the 2023 Democratic primary.