Ex-MS probation officer sentenced for extorting sex, drugs from offenders
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- Former MDOC probation officer sentenced to eight years for extorting offenders
- Investigators found over 200 explicit photos and videos seized from his phone
- Text messages show he coerced sex, drugs and threats to avoid reporting
A former Mississippi Department of Corrections probation and parole officer from Ocean Springs has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for extorting drugs, sex, and sexually-explicit photos and videos from at least five offenders under his supervision.
U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel sentenced Steven Wood, 64, on Thursday to eight years each on charges of extortion under the Hobbs Act and witness tampering. The sentences will run concurrently.
Wood will also serve three years of supervised release and pay a $5,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner prosecuted the case.
At the time of his arrest, Wood had over 200 sexually-explicit videos and photos of offenders on his phone.
According to text exchanges between Wood and the victims, Wood demanded that the offenders provide sexually-explicit photos and videos in exchange for assurances that he would overlook probation or parole violations. Investigators said Wood committed the crimes over two years beginning in 2022.
Wood was charged with extortion under the Hobbs Act, a law enacted to help prosecutors fight racketeering and labor-management disputes, and to prosecute offenders accused of public corruption.
During his plea hearing, he admitted that in October 2024 he met up with a victim in Harrison County and threatened, intimidated and “corruptly persuaded” them to avoid speaking with investigators handling his case.
Text messages obtained by investigators show Wood warned victims he could send them to prison if they did not comply with his demands. In one exchange, the mother of a victim confronted Wood, accusing him of coercing her daughter — who did not use drugs — to buy methamphetamine on the street for his personal use.
“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 woman wrote. She also warned him that she planned to report his conduct to his supervisors, saying: “You are bribing my daughter to give you drugs and threatening (to) transfer her and scare her. She can’t handle it.”
In addition, the mother added: “That ... is wrong ... to ask her to do something that she has charges for. I'll be seeing ... your boss today.”
In another exchange, the victim’s mother said, “And on top of that, you are trying to pay for sex. What does my kid look like — a dope or a prostitute?”
Wood’s attorney, Michael Crosby, said Wood had a history of methamphetamine and opioid use and was later accepted into a treatment program.
“The power of meth is problematic and an epidemic, and it affects all levels of society as demonstrated here,” Crosby said. “His behavior was horrible and demonstrated the power these drugs have on everyone.”
Some of the victims of the crimes attended his sentencing hearing in federal court in Gulfport.
The FBI, with assistance from MDOC and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics investigated the case.
