MS Coast man admits $20,000 bribe offer in Alan Moran’s stalking case
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Co-defendant Ian Schexnayder pleaded guilty to offering a $20,000 bribe.
- Prosecutors tie Billings and the Morans to the scheme via records and video.
- Sentence recommendation: 15 years with 10 suspended, three years to serve.
A co-defendant of former Diamondhead councilman and convicted sex offender Alan Moran has pleaded guilty to bribery in a scheme to pay off Moran’s victim in a Waveland stalking case.
Ian Joseph Schexnayder, 24, of Pearlington, entered the plea Wednesday before Judge Randi Mueller in Harrison County Circuit Court in Gulfport.
A Hancock County grand jury indicted Schexnayder, Jeremy Cole Billings, Moran and Moran’s father, former state Sen. Philip Moran, on felony bribery and conspiracy charges. The Morans and Billings are still awaiting trial.
As part of his plea, Schexnayder admitted that he and Billings rode motorcycles to Lowe’s in Waveland and offered Moran’s stalking victim $20,000 to drop the misdemeanor charge. Moran has since been convicted of the stalking offense.
Schexnayder said he didn’t know the Morans but agreed to participate in the crime after his friend, Billings, asked him to take part in the scheme.
In exchange for the plea, Assistant District Attorney Chris Daniel said prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 15 years, with 10 years suspended and three years to serve. The sentencing, currently slated at the end of February, is contingent on his testimony at the trial of the three other defendants in the case.
During the plea haring, Daniiel summarized some of the evidence in the case connecting Schexnayder and the other defendants to the crime.
According to the prosecutor, the bribery investigation began in December 2024 after the stalking victim told Waveland police that two men on motorcyclists approached him in the Lowe’s parking lot, offering him $20,000 in cash to drop the stalking charge against Moran.
During the investigation, Daniel said Waveland police officers obtained surveillance video from Lowe’s and interviewed witnesses seen on the footage.
After a review of the footage and other evidence, witnesses helped identify Schexnayder and Jeremy Cole Billings as the men on motorcycles who made the bribery offer.
During a subsequent police interview, Schexnayder admitted he had been at Lowe’s on a motorcycle with Billings at the time of the bribery attempt. Investigators also learned through official records checked on bank transactions and other evidence that Billings had ties to Moran and his family.
The investigation found that Billings and Moran conspired to bribe the stalking victim and phone records, cash transactions involving the co-defendants, bank surveillance video, and other means of electronic communications, and a financial transaction in the weeks leading up to the bribe that supported the stalking victim’s account.
When Schexnayder was arrested, investigators forensically extracted data from his cellphone. On the device, the prosecutor said authorities found a photograph of the cash allegedly offered, as well as a photo that had been sent to Schexnayder by Billings. The phone also showed that Schexnayder did an internet search about whether a cash offer in a criminal case is a crime.
Investigators additionally determined that before the bribery attempt, Schexnayder called an acquaintance who works at Lowe’s to help him gather information needed to set up the meeting on Dec. 13., 2024.
Arresting the suspects
Police first arrested Billings and Schexnayder in December 2024 after they were identified as the two men who approached the teen stalking victim outside Lowe’s.
According to the police report and testimony during a court hearing, Schexnayder and Billings approached the teen outside the store on Dec. 13, 2024. They offered him $20,000 in cash, showing the estimated $5,000 in cash they had on them.
Schexnayder said he and Billings told the teen he’d get the $5,000 in cash up front and the remaining $15,000 in cash once the teen followed through with dropping the stalking charge, the report said.
The teen at Lowe’s told the two suspects he didn’t want the money, but would instead report their actions to Waveland police, ultimately resulting in the bribery investigation.
Alan Moran is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for violating his probation on a previous child exploitation conviction. A judge revoked the former councilman’s probation on the felony offense as a result of the stalking and bribery offense.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM.
