Former MS Coast councilman avoids prison in child exploitation case, says he’s sorry
A former Mississippi Coast councilman, the son of a former state senator, won’t serve a day in prison for using the promise of a job at his father’s business to lure a teen to him that he made sexual advances on and inappropriately touched for sexual purposes.
Judge Christopher Schmidt followed the recommendation of the prosecutors Friday and sentenced former Diamondhead councilman Alan Moran to a 15-year suspended prison sentence, with five years to serve under post-release supervision and orders to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The judge sentenced Moran to six months in the county jail for misdemeanor contributing to the neglect and delinquency of a child for buying the teen beer to drink. The judge suspended all but 30 days of that sentence, leaving 30 days for Moran to serve in the county jail for that crime.
Moran was fined $2,000 and ordered to have no access to any social media sites for the duration of the five years he will serve under post-release supervision for the felony crime.
‘I’m very sorry for my behavior,” Moran said. “I’m very sorry for my actions that led us all here today. I ask that you follow the state’s recommendation, and I will do whatever you want to be done, sir.’
Moran pleaded guilty to the charges last week, and smiled and smirked at the victim and his family prior to entering his guilty pleas.
The victim’s mother addressed the court and read a letter from her son.
“As a mother, it is my job to protect my children from predators like you,” she said. “What you did to my son and put him through made me feel as as though I failed in my duties and obligations as a mother. You used your position of authority in your father’s company as a vessel to lure children in for your sick and lustful purposes. “
She said Moran used his position to lure her son in with a promise of a job.
“You gave him beer in hopes of getting sexual favors, and you took advantage of his youth,” the mother said. “No one will ever know the fear and anxiety we felt when our son managed to get a text message to his father as to what was going on.”
As time went on, the teen’s mother said her family learned that her son had not been Moran’s first victim.
“Not only did you lie about your actions for two years, but you told lies about my child and our family,” she said. “We lived in fear that someone was going to try and harm him (her son) for telling the truth.
Victim angered over Moran’s denials
At the sentencing, the victim’s mother also read a letter from the victim. In it, he said he was angry about what Moran had done to him and that he smiled and smirked about his crimes.
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The victim also lashed out at Moran for the attacks on his character, and that of his family, once he reported Moran’s crimes.
“You have caused a lot of stress and pain on me and my family,” the teen said.
“I am angry for what you did and that you have lied about it,” he said. “I am angry that you tried to say I was on drugs. I am am angry that you tried to say I lied and made all of this up. I am angry that you called my parents liars. I am angry that you waited to the very last minute to admit you are a liar, and not me.’
Judge addresses ex-senator’s disruptive behavior
Just before Schmidt sentenced Moran, he stopped briefly to ask a bailiff to deal with what the judge called disruptive behavior by man in the hallway, who happened to be Moran’s father, former state Sen. Philip Moran.
At the time, the elder Moran was in the courtroom hallway leaning against the door to listen in on the proceedings. The former senator had his ear to the door but didn’t want to be pictured. The door shielded his identity because it had opaque or frosted glass in it.
The sentencing continued after the bailiff went into hallway to tell the elder Moran to step away from the door.
Alan Moran’s arrest
Hancock County sheriff’s deputies arrested Moran for the crimes on Valentine’s Day in 2022 at Dolly’s Quick Stop.
That same day, Moran talked on a dating app about his sexual fantasies and how he preferred young heterosexual men for group sex and shared a sex tape of him and his wife the same day Moran committed the crimes, prosecutors said.
Moran discussed those fantasies and more with 16 different men on Grindr, an Internet dating app that caters to gay men and others in the LGBTQ community.
The teen had met up with Moran, 36, after he sent him a message over the app Snapchat, asking if he wanted to come in that Valentine’s Day in 2022 to make some money doing some work for him at a mosquito company.
The teen said he met Moran at Philip’s Pest Control, the then-name of the company owned by Moran’s father, but one that Alan Moran also performed work for.
An investigator later testified that he saw the message sent to the teen.
After the two met up, the teen told authorities Moran took him to a pasture to look at some cattle, then they drove around doing work in the pest control truck before Moran later stopped at his home in Diamondhead and pulled out a sex toy.
According to prosecutors, Moran offered the teen cash and cellphone to play with the sex toy, but the teen declined.
Moran got the teen to meet up that Valentine’s Day to make money working for his the elder Moran’s mosquito company.
During the drive, Moran rubbed the victim’s leg and genitals.
When the teen resisted Moran’s actions, authorities said he started saying, “’What, are you mad at me? You don’t want me to touch you there?’”
Sheriff’s investigators said the teen sent his parents a text message asking for help and telling them to meet them when they pulled up at Dolly’s Quick Stop.
When the teen and Moran drove up, the teen took the keys out of the truck so Moran couldn’t leave before Hancock sheriff’s deputies arrived.
The teen’s mother said in earlier testimony that she, the teen’s father, and two others met them at the store and attempted to detain Moran until Hancock County deputies arrived.
Moran had a history of making unwanted sexual advances on young men.
At a pretrial hearing, the two other young men testified about Moran making sexual advances on them in their teens.
Civil litigation related to the wrongdoing is still pending.
This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 11:42 AM.
