Ex-Mississippi Coast cop pleads guilty to embezzlement after stealing gas money from city
A former Mississippi Coast police officer pleaded guilty to embezzlement after he used a FuelMan gas card provided by Gautier to buy fuel for his own car, State Auditor Shad White announced in a news release Thursday.
Eric Maye, a former Gautier and Moss Point police officer, was arrested on the charge in January 2023 and served with a $1,433.43 demand letter that required him to pay back the city for money he should have used to fuel his city-owned police car.
The Jackson County Circuit Court sentenced Maye to five years of house arrest and five of post-release supervision. He must also pay restitution and fines, the court ruled. Maye will serve that sentence concurrently with his conviction in a case investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, according to the news release.
Embezzlement in Gautier
An internal investigation around the beginning of 2019 showed Maye used a Fuelman credit card 16 times to buy premium gas for his private car at nine stores in Gautier, Ocean Springs, D’Iberville and Biloxi, according to records obtained by the Sun Herald in 2022.
Maye used the police-issued card 13 times when he was off-duty and video cameras caught at least three of those illegal transactions, the records showed.
Gautier officials fired Maye after the allegations and demanded he repay the city after he admitted to the transactions. The city did not prosecute Maye at the time of its investigation, but there is no statute of limitations for embezzlement prosecution or public corruption cases, and a Jackson County grand jury indicted Maye in August on two counts of felony embezzlement by a public servant.
Prosecutors accused Maye of embezzling the funds between March and August 2017, charging documents showed.
Embezzlement case in Moss Point
A second charge from another incident accused Maye of stealing cash from a drug suspect who he booked into jail while working as a Moss Point police officer in February 2022.
The Moss Point Police Department denounced Maye’s conduct, fired him and asked the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident. In March 2022, a judge decided the evidence was sufficient to arrest Maye in the Moss Point case.
Lost certification
After the Gautier investigation in March 2019, Maye lost his law enforcement credentials, which are required to work in law enforcement in Mississippi. He was already working for Moss Point police at that time but resigned after the state de-certified him.
In his time away from law enforcement, Maye has said he worked at Ingalls Shipbuilding and completed basic training in the military reserves.
In December 2021, he regained his law enforcement credentials and returned to Moss Point as a patrol officer after Moss Point Police Chief Brandon Ashley asked the state board to re-certify him.
At that hearing, Ashley told the board Maye had “put all his problems behind him.”
Three months later, he was accused of embezzlement in Moss Point.
Guilty plea
White thanked prosecutors and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation in the release.
“Working together, we will continue to safeguard taxpayer dollars,” White said.
Maye is still liable for the demand’s full amount in addition to his punishment from the criminal case, the release said. His employment in Gautier is not covered by a surety bond, which is a bond similar to insurance that aims to protect city residents from corruption.
District Attorney Angel McIlrath’s office prosecuted both cases.
The Auditor’s office asks anyone to report fraud by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or calling 1-(800)-321-1275.
Sun Herald reporter Margaret Baker contributed to this report.
