Mario King resigns as mayor of Moss Point, pleads guilty to federal fraud charge
Moss Point Mayor Mario King and his wife, Natasha, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one federal charge in a 13-count indictment accusing them wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
The couple pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud before Judge Sul Ozerden in federal court in Gulfport.
Along with the guilty pleas came an end to Mario King’s reign as mayor of the River City.
On Friday, Moss Point aldermen had called for the one-term mayor’s immediate resignation upon entering his guilty plea. They asked City Attorney Amy St. Pe’ to send a letter to the attorney general’s office requesting that his resignation be part of his plea agreement.
It was included in the plea Wednesday, and his resignation takes effect immediately.
“The Board believes that confidence in an elected official is destroyed when he is convicted of a crime,” the Board said in a statement released Friday.
The couple informed the courts of their plans to change their pleas to guilty just before the deadline to do so last week.
King, 33, and his wife, 32, remain free pending sentencing May 26.
Prosecutors have recommended a sentence of probation for Natasha King, while Mario King is facing up five years in prison, though he is expected to receive less than the maximum sentence since he pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors.
The couple is also expected to be ordered to pay restitution and fines of up to $250,000.
Who will take over as mayor of Moss Point?
The Moss Point Board of Aldermen held a meeting Wednesday afternoon to confirm Mayor Pro-Tem Robert Byrd to serve as mayor for the remainder of the term that ends in June. He was sworn in by Judge Keith Miller.
Councilman-at-large David Chapman was appointed the new mayor pro-tem.
State law does not require a special election if there is less than six months left in a term.
Residents elected the then-30-year-old Mario King, a Democrat, in June 2017. He already announced this year that he does not intend to seek reelection.
Since his first day in office, Mario King’s tenure has been marked by controversy, including a move by aldermen to cut his pay and an arrest on a domestic violence charge involving his wife — though that was ultimately dismissed after she refused to testify. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case after Natasha King reported the incident.
State law does not allow a mayor guilty of certain felony offense to continue to serve in office. However, St. Pe’ advised aldermen that an elected official, in this case King, is not automatically ineligible to hold office upon entering a guilty plea if the crime is something other than public corruption or peculation, also known as misappropriation of funds.
As a result, the Board had the attorney request in writing that the attorney general request his removal from office and for a judge to order the action.
After the Sun Herald broke the news of the Kings’ decision to enter guilty pleas, the mayor sent an email to city officials saying he would make a statement after his court appearance this week. On Wednesday, he declined to comment, and his attorneys, Calvin Taylor and Tyler Cox, and Natasha’s attorney, Cameron McCormick, said any statements would be made after the sentencing.
The Kings are currently living in Texas, their attorneys said.
Alderman Byrd said after his mayoral appointment Wednesday that he was prepared to run day-to-day operations of the city until a new mayor takes office in July.
Mario King had lined the walls of City Hall with poster-size images of himself alone and with others. By the time he pleaded guilty Friday, the walls had been stripped of the those framed life-size images. King had taken them with him when he left City Hall for the last time.
At the special meeting to appoint King’s replacement, city officials expressed relief that the former mayor turned convicted felon was no longer in office.
“It’s a new day in the city,” Alderman Wayne Lennap said. “it’s time to move forward.”
Using donations to buy high-end cars, a pedigreed dog
A federal grand jury indicted the Kings on 13 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in June. The indictment was made public a month later.
The couple was accused of using donations raised for mental services at schools for Moss Point youth on personal items, such as down payments on a Volvo and Cadillac and to pay in full for a pedigreed dog for the family.
The Kings misspent donations from late 2018 or early 2019 to May 2019.
Some of the money, according to the indictment, was used to cover the costs of the Mayor’s Gala — which was promoted as a fundraiser — but the couple used some of the money on personal expenses.
The couple retrieved some of the donations and moved the money in April 2018 from an account Natasha opened in the name of the couple’s personal business, Rejuvenate LLC.
Here’s a look at some of the allegations in the indictment:
- On April 8, 2019, Natasha King used a Rejuvenate debit card for a $2,000 down payment on a Cadillac XTC. She returned the car and CarMax sent her a check for the down payment, which she then deposited in the Kings’ personal checking account.
- On May 1, 2019, Natasha King withdrew $1,000 cash from the Rejuvenate account and $2,700 from the couple’s checking account and used the total for a down payment on a Volvo, with $3,000 of the total being Rejuvenate funds.
- On April 16, 2019, the Kings paid off $745 on two credit cards with money from the Rejuvenate account. The payments represented charges on the accounts for a Biewer Terrier dog that they had bought months earlier in Hattiesburg.
The wire fraud charges are related to donations transferred from PayPal to the Rejuvenate account, plus withdrawals from the account for personal expenses.
If the couple had gone to trial and been convicted, they were facing up to 20 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Meynardie said a plea in a public corruption case, especially one that did not involve an huge sum of money, sends a message to others that federal prosecutors will pursue an investigation and criminal prosecution in such cases.
Federal prosecutors said they had identified up to 25 victims, including the Moss Point School District. In addition, Meynardie said many of the victims indicated they would not have made any donations had they known they would not be used for the intended purpose.
The Mississippi State Auditor’s Office and the FBI investigated the case.
“I’m pleased to see this case some to a conclusion,” State Auditor Shad White said. “It’s an example of top-notch coordination between the auditor’s office and federal authorities. Folks like Mr. King need to learn they are not above the law. We are watching.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 10:44 AM.
