Hattiesburg man sentenced for alleged jail food theft

Jerry Woodland, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and mail fraud charges in the alleged theft of food from Forrest County Jail, was sentenced Monday in federal court.

Woodland, 54, of Hattiesburg was sentenced by Mississippi Southern District U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett to one year in prison and three years of post-release supervision. In addition, Woodland must repay $443,395.61 to the Forrest County Board of Supervisors and a $100 assessment to the court. The maximum sentence Woodland faced was five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of probation.

Woodland and a former co-worker, the late Allen Haralson, and others were accused of mail fraud after drafting and submitting various Forrest County purchase requisition forms between 2009 and 2014 for food and food-related items that were “purchased by invoices and payments sent through the United States Postal Service or other common carriers.”

Woodland and Haralson had worked in the kitchen at the jail. Woodland pleaded guilty Dec. 15, 2014.

Haralson, who pleaded guilty Nov. 21, 2014, died Dec. 30, 2014, at Forrest General Hospital. He was 61.

Haralson’s case was the first brought forward after state and federal investigators asked this summer for expense records connected to Forrest County Jail. Those expenses were submitted to and approved by the Forrest County Board of Supervisors.

Following a two-year investigation by state and federal agencies, Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee told the Hattiesburg American last year he did not expect any further charges to be filed.

According to a bill of information, various items not on the jail’s menu such as ribs, shrimp, beef brisket, steak and clam strips, were ordered through the detention center then transported directly to the conspirators' personal residences and businesses "for their personal benefit and use."

McGee said in an earlier story no documentation exists showing the purchase of such items.

“There is not one record in the Forrest County Courthouse, not one piece of paper in the Forrest County Courthouse that any steak, that any shrimp, that any clam strips, that any of that was bought and purchased with Forrest County taxpayer money and received at the Forrest County Jail,” McGee said.

Woodland was represented by Gulfport attorney John Weber III, an assistant federal public defender. He was not available for comment Monday.