Ex-black spring break promoter accused in drug case facing new felony charges

A former black spring break promoter who was arrested just before this year’s event on federal cocaine trafficking charges now faces felony tax evasion charges in two counties.

A judge had already ordered Keith Lavell Brown to pay nearly $18,000 in back taxes for felony tax evasion charges in Harrison County in 2017. Now he faces additional charges for the same type of crime in Jackson County.

Brown, 46, was set for a court hearing this week following his indictment on three felony counts of tax evasion in Jackson County. The hearing ended with Judge Robert Krebs setting an Oct. 8 trial date.

In that case, Brown is accused of failing to pay nearly $47,000 in state taxes over a three-year period ending in 2015.

He owed the taxes on earnings at Omni Wireless LLC in Pascagoula, court papers say.

In the Harrison County case, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in September 2017.

When he entered the plea, the judge ordered him to pay back the state taxes in full and fined him $2,500.

In exchange for his plea, two tax evasion charges against Brown in Harrison County were passed to the files at the prosecutor’s recommendation.

Criminal charges are nothing new for the former promoter who still planned to rake in cash last year for parking spring breakers on beachfront lots he had rented.

Instead, authorities arrested Brown and a co-defendant a week before that event on federal cocaine trafficking charges.

In that case, Brown is accused of conspiring with co-defendant Jaycie Mario Thomas, 35, of Ocean Springs to distribute 11 pounds of cocaine on the Coast beginning in 2009 while he was still a spring break promoter. He served in that capacity from 2009-14.

Both Brown and Thomas are set to go to trial on the federal drug charges beginning on the Aug. 6 court calendar.

Brown also was previously convicted of federal marijuana-trafficking charges involving more than 100 pounds of pot in the city of Forrest. He received a 113-month sentence in that case.

Brown is currently being held without bond at the Harrison County Jail.

Brown is set to go to trial on the federal cocaine-trafficking charges on the court calendar beginning Aug. 6.

This story was originally published July 13, 2018 at 3:29 PM.