Ex-Coast cop accused of embezzlement just got his badge back 3 months ago. What happened?
Former Moss Point Police Officer Eric Eugene Maye first became a target of a criminal investigation for alleged wrongdoing when he worked as a Gautier police officer three years ago, according to records obtained by the Sun Herald.
The allegations surfaced during an internal police investigation in Gautier that showed Maye had allegedly embezzled $624.23 from the city by making illegal purchases on his police-issued Fuelman credit card, records show.
Gautier officials fired May and ordered him to reimburse the city for the illegal charges. The city did not pursue criminal charges against Maye at the time of the late 2018 or early 2019 investigation.
The Sun Herald sent an email to Gautier City Manager Paula Yancey and city attorney, Josh Danos, to ask why the city didn’t pursue criminal charges at the time of the alleged crimes.
In a written response Wednesday, Danos said “the State Auditor is handling Mr. Maye’s charges relating to his employment with Gautier, and I have been asked to direct all questions regarding this investigation to that office.”
Logan Reeves, spokesperson for the state auditor’s office, told the Sun Herald that “our office was not aware of these allegations whenever they occurred.”
Reeves added he could not confirm or deny a current open investigation into Maye’s alleged crime in Gautier.
On March 14, 2019, the Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training voted to decertify Maye’s law enforcement certification due to results of the Gautier police investigation. The certificate is required to serve in law enforcement in Mississippi.
By then, Maye was working as a patrolman in Moss Point — his second stint serving as a police officer in the River City.
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Losing his law enforcement license
At that time, Maye unsuccessfully pleaded to the law enforcement board for his credentials to remain intact. Moss Point Police Chief Brandon Ashley also went to Jackson and attended the meeting to vouch for Maye, telling the BLEOST members in Jackson “that he (Maye) has been a model employee at Moss Point.”
Still, Maye lost his credentials and had to resign.
But that changed in November 2021, when Chief Ashley applied with the state BOLEOST to ask for Maye’s certification for him to work in law enforcement in Moss Point. The state allows candidates to reapply for law enforcement certification two years after cancellation.
At that hearing, Maye told members, “all of his problems are behind him, and he wants a second chance to return to a law enforcement career.”
Ashley said he thought Maye had turned his life around by then.
“I was willing to give him a second opportunity if his certification was reinstated by the Board (BOLEOST).” Ashley said. “He had joined the military. He was married and had a family. I figured he had matured and learned a lesson.”
By December 2021, Maye had returned to Moss Point as a patrol officer.
New embezzlement allegations in Moss Point
Three months later, a Jackson County judge found probable cause to arrest Maye on a felony charge of embezzlement involving officers, trustees, and public employees converting property valued at over $1,000 for their own use.
In that case, Maye is accused of the Feb. 26 theft of property, believed to be cash, from a drug suspect at the Moss Point Police Department.
Maye is currently out of jail on a $10,000 bond on that charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the crime.
“We hire officers with the belief that they can be trusted with not only sensitive information but also property and other items that come into their possession by virtue of their office,” Ashley said.
Ashely said in the periods of time over several years that the fired officer had worked for him that there had never been a complaint made against Maye.
“I never would have thought this would involve him.’
The Gautier theft involving Fuelman card
During the internal investigation into alleged Fuelman credit card fraud about three years ago, Gautier police determined Maye “had made sixteen (16) unlawful purchases of fuel” at nine different stores in different areas in Gautier, Ocean Springs, D’Iberville and Biloxi for his private vehicles,” according records obtained by the Sun Herald.
Maye was off duty when he made 13 of the charges on the police-issued card, the report says, and video cameras captured footage of him making at least three of the illegal transaction.
The video footage, the records say, “clearly show him (Maye) purchasing fuel for his personally-owned black Dodge Charger.”
In addition, Maye used premium instead of regular gas to fill up his private vehicles. On at least one occasion, the records say, Maye had pumped gas into his personal vehicle about an hour after he filled up his patrol car.
After Gautier police concluded its investigation, Maye admitted to making the “unlawful transactions” and agreed to pay the city back in full.
Though Maye wasn’t prosecuted for that offense at the time, the state auditor’s office confirmed there is no statute of limitations for prosecution in embezzlement and public corruption cases.
It’s unclear whether Maye will face any criminal charges in relation to the Gautier offense going forward.
Getting his police credentials back
When Maye went before the state BOLEST again in 2021 to try to get his police certification back, he acknowledged his prior wrongdoing in Gautier but told the board for the second time in nearly three years that he had put those ‘problems” behind him.
He said he worked at Ingalls Shipbuilding for two years and completed basic training in the military reserves while away from law enforcement.
The law enforcement board described the allegations against Maye in Gautier as serious, saying he had “engaged in conduct or actions that would breach the established minimum standards (for law enforcement), violate the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics or would greatly diminish the public trust in the competencies and reliability of a law enforcement officer.”
But the state BLEOST also had Ashley as a police chief filing an application for Maye’s police certification so he could work in policing once again.
But with the backing of the police chief, Ashley, the board agreed to reinstate Maye’s credentials after a private discussion.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
