MS Coast probation officer extorted offenders by demanding drugs and sex, authorities say
A Mississippi Department of Corrections probation and parole officer in Jackson County is jailed on federal charges of extortion under the Hobbs Act and witnesses tampering, according to records unsealed this week.
According to the charging document handed down in federal court in Gulfport, Steven Wood is accused of getting drugs from offenders he supervised and producing sexual videos and sexually oriented photographs of at least five offenders under his supervision as an MDOC probation and parole officer.
Wood allegedly took pictures and made videos of the sex acts with the targeted offenders in exchange for his promises to them that he would not take any action against them for any alleged probation or parole violation. Those crimes occurred between 2022 and August 2024.
Federal prosecutors have charged Wood with witness tampering for an incident in October 2024. According to the bill of information, Wood approached the victim in Harrison County and threatened, intimidated, and “corruptly persuaded” them to avoid speaking with investigators handling his case. The filings confirm this occurred in October 2024.
Authorities charged Woods with extortion under the Hobbs Act, a law enacted as one of the ways to combat racketeering and labor-management disputes and to prosecute alleged public corruption.
In text exchanges between Wood and the alleged victims, he often cited how he could send the victims to prison if they didn’t do what he wanted.
In one such exchange with a victim’s mother who intervened, she told Wood she knew he was getting her daughter, who did not use drugs, to find drugs on the streets to give to Wood.
“This is her mother, and I think it is very wrong of you to do the things you have been doing to my daughter,” the mother wrote. “Yes, she told me, and I think I am going to have ... talk to your boss today (about) how you are bribing my daughter to give you drugs and threatening (to) transfer her and scare her. She can’t handle. “
“That s..t is wrong ...to ask her to do something that she has charges for,” the mother continued. “I‘ll be seeing ...your boss today.”
Michael Crosby, Wood’s attorney, stated that his client has a history of methamphetamine and opiate use and has been accepted into a treatment program.
A federal judge ordered that Wood remain jailed pending his trial that is tentatively set on the court calendar beginning in February.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 11:18 AM.
