MS Coast man expected to cooperate with investigators in Alan Moran bribery case
Correction: Former MS Coast councilman Alan Moran, in his child exploitation case, admitted he enticed a teen boy, 17, to meet him for sex. An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information
A Diamondhead man waived his preliminary hearing in a bribery case Thursday and is expected to cooperate with state and federal investigators looking into whether others were involved in an offer to pay a teen cash to drop a stalking charge against a former Mississippi Coast councilman.
Jeremy Cole Billings, 23, of Diamondhead, met with his attorney, Chris Johnson, and others before Billings decided to waive his preliminary hearing on the bribery offense around lunchtime. The case will now go before a Hancock County grand jury for indictment.
Waveland prosecutor Damian Holcomb said the criminal investigation is ongoing.
Waveland police arrested Billings and Ian Schexnayder, of Pearlington, in December on the felony offense.
The pair is accused of offering to pay $20,000 in cash to a 19-year-old male employee at Lowe’s to get him to drop a misdemeanor allegation of stalking against former Diamondhead councilman Alan Joseph Moran.
Moran, the son of former Mississippi state Sen. Philip Moran, is now jailed in Hancock County due to the new stalking charge. As a result of his latest arrest, the judge in December sent Moran to jail for six months for a technical violation of his misdemeanor conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and felony child exploitation.
Moran is also a registered sex offender.
Among those in Waveland Municipal Court on Thursday morning for the preliminary hearing that ended up not happening were the parents of the teen boy that Moran last year admitted to touching sexually and buying the teen beer to drink.
The parents said they were there to support the prosecution of the latest case related to Moran.
$5,000 down and $15,000 to go
According to the police incident report, Billings and Schexnayder approached the store employee outside Lowe’s in mid-December. They offered him $5,000 in cash upfront to drop the stalking charge and the remaining $15,000 balance once they dismissed the stalking complaint.
The teen declined the payoff and said he would go to the Waveland Police Department to report what they had done.
The alleged bribery occurred on Dec. 13. The two suspects reportedly had motorcycle helmets on when they approached the Lowe’s employee.
Waveland police made the arrests just over a week after first arresting Moran on the stalking charge. In that case, police said Moran repeatedly stalked the young man at Lowe’s in November and offered him $20 for sex.
According to that report, Moran repeatedly stalked the teen at the store and then waited on the teen outside in the parking lot after he got off of work to solicit the young man for sex.
During that encounter, the police report said Moran made sexually suggestive comments to the teen about how he thought the teen could make a quick $20 off women he worked with for sex before soliciting the teen for the same.
Moran’s arrest for stalking came less than a year after his conviction for child exploitation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
A registered sex offender
In the child exploitation case, Moran admitted to enticing a teen boy, 17, to meet him for sex after luring him to work at a business owned by Moran’s father.
Judge Christopher Schmidt had previously sentenced Moran to a 15-year suspended prison sentence for child exploitation plus five years of supervised release. In addition, the judge sentenced Moran to six months in jail for the contributing charge, suspending all but 30 days for him to serve in the county jail.
The judge also ordered Moran to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
In the exploitation case, authorities said Moran lured the teen victim to him by first sending a message to him over the Snapchat app about work on Valentine’s Day 2022.
The teen met Moran at Philip’s Pest Control, the then-name of the company owned by Moran’s father but one where Alan Moran also performed work.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 4:18 PM.
