FBI agent’s testimony links Morans to alleged bribery, conspiracy scheme
A federal agent kicked off testimony Thursday in the bribery and conspiracy trial of former Mississippi state Sen. Philip Moran and his son, Alan Moran, offering evidence that prosecutors say further links the pair to a scheme to bribe a stalking victim into dropping charges against the younger Moran.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force Agent Drew Robinson testified about key evidence obtained through a review of phone records and other electronic data involving the Morans and their alleged co-conspirators.
Assistant District Attorneys Chris Daniel and Matthew Burrell are prosecuting the case before Judge Christopher Schmidt in Hancock County Circuit Court.
Prosecutors alleged the Morans, along with co-defendants Jeremy Billings and Ian Schexnayder, devised a scheme to offer Alan Moran’s stalking victim, Slade Miller, $20,000 to drop a misdemeanor stalking charge. Miller rejected the offer and reported it to Waveland police.
Phone records tie defendants together
Robinson’s testimony focused on information obtained through a detailed review of cellphone records, Apple account records and other electronic evidence from devices belonging to the Morans, Billings and Schexnayder.
Robinson said he became involved in the investigation at the request of Waveland police to assist with preparing search warrants, obtaining cellphone and Apple account records, and gathering other electronic evidence.
The agent requested records covering Nov. 3, 2024, through Jan. 31, 2025. He said the significance of the starting date was that it coincided with the day Alan Moran allegedly stalked Miller at a Lowe’s store.
A Waveland judge later convicted Alan Moran of the offense, though he has appealed the conviction. Robinson said the end date was selected because it included the period beginning with the stalking offense through the aftermath of the bribery scheme.
Because the records contained thousands of entries, Robinson testified that investigators focused on identifying communication patterns among Philip Moran, Alan Moran and Billings during key points in the stalking investigation and subsequent bribery case.
In addition to reviewing phone records, Robinson testified that he gathered evidence related to a $30,000 cash loan withdrawal on a CD that Philip Moran made Nov. 18, 2024, at Keesler Federal Credit Union in Diamondhead. He said such large transactions are documented through Currency Transaction Reports, or CTRs, which he obtained and reviewed as part of the investigation.
After reviewing the electronic data, Robinson said several dates stood out.
A spike in calls amid the crimes
Waveland Deputy Police Chief Eddie Hursey headed up the criminal investigation, and further confirmed an abundance of calls between the Morans and Billings during key dates in the stalking and bribery case.
One of the first notable increases in phone activity between the trio occurred during a two-day period beginning Nov. 7, 2024, shortly after the stalking investigation began.
Another significant spike occurred Dec. 9, 2024, the day Alan Moran surrendered to authorities. Robinson testified that phone records showed a series of calls among Alan Moran, Philip Moran and Billings before the younger Moran surrendered to authorities that day.
According to Robinson, it was the first date reflected in the records when all three men were actively communicating with one another. In court, he used a chart to summarize the calls made throughout the day, explaining the timing and frequency of contacts among the three men.
Investigators also focused on Dec. 13, 2024, the date prosecutors contend the bribery scheme took place. Robinson said call records from that day showed continued communication among individuals involved in the case.
Another major increase in call volume occurred Dec. 16, 2024, when Billings and Schexnayder were arrested.
During his testimony, Robinson emphasized the limitations of the records. While they show when calls occurred, how long they lasted and which numbers communicated, they do not reveal the content of the conversations.
“The phone records tell us who talked and when they talked,” Robinson testified. “But they don’t tell us what was said.”
Robinson also testified about an interview conducted with Billings on March 12, 2025. He and Deputy Chief Hursey met with Billings when he had his attorney with him. Before questioning began, Robinson said he reminded Billings of the importance of being truthful to federal investigators and informed him of the potential criminal consequences of making false statements.
According to Robinson, Billings initially denied or minimized his involvement and failed to disclose some of his contacts with others involved in the case. Investigators later compared Billings’ statements with phone records and other evidence gathered during the investigation.
During cross-examination, defense attorneys challenged Robinson’s interpretation of the records and suggested that investigators may have focused too heavily on evidence supporting their theory of the case.
Calling a judge to ask for leniency
In other testimony Thursday, Charles H. Johnson said his longtime friend Philip Moran asked him to contact Waveland Municipal Judge P.J. Mauffray and request that the judge “go easy on” Alan Moran in the stalking case.
Johnson said he initially agreed to make the call but first consulted his own attorney about whether doing so would be appropriate.
According to Johnson, his attorney advised him not to contact the judge.
Other testimony in the case Thursday came from Hancock County federal task force agent and deputy, Colette Eagan. Eagan testified that she is trained to listen to jail calls to determine whether they contain relevant information in the criminal case involving the defendant.
She listens for what become different suspected code words defendants use to communicate what they want to those who call in.
The prosecutor played several of those recordings in court Thursday, all of which involved conversations between Alan Moran and his father.
In many of the calls, Alan Moran is angry at his father for not doing things he wants to be handled, though he doesn’t go into details because he knows the calls are recorded.
In others, Moran cries about his situation, and in other conversations, he gets angry at his father when he mentions maybe house arrest could be an option for some type of sentence.
In another request, Alan Moran asked his father if he’d called anyone to see about being allowed to be a trusty while in custody. A trusty in a jail setting has more privileges than others
At one point, Alan Moran repeatedly asks his father whether he has taken care of the truck, and his father says he knows what he is talking about and will handle it.
Alan Moran reiterated that his father needed to take care of the truck, which prosecutors suggested was the same one the father and son had let Jeremy Billings use for his lawn care business.
The Morans did end up taking the truck back, according to Billings, and his business failed as a result.
But during questioning from Philip Moran’s attorney, H.H. “Tracy” Klein, Eagan said she could not be sure the truck that was referenced in the calls was the same one that Billings used though it belonged to the Morans.
Since the trial began, Klein has been trying to poke holes in the evidence linking Philip Moran to the bribery case, and attorney Donald Rafferty has been defending Moran.
Chief investigator sheds more light on probe
Deputy Chief Hursey testified at the end of the day Thursday, providing some of the most explosive testimony connecting the Morans to the crime.
Hursey confirmed all the dates involved in the investigation that he spearheaded, including the day the stalking victim reported the crime on Nov. 5, 2024.
Hursey went over testimony that came out early in the investigation about how Moran had stalked Miller at Lowe’s two days before he filed the report.
He said video footage and other evidence collected during the investigation confirmed everything Miller had reported about the crime, which led to a conviction.
Hursey said he got in touch with Moran’s attorney, Donald Rafferty, about an arrest warrant for Alan Moran on the stalking offense to arrange his client’s surrender.
Alan Moran turned himself in on Dec. 9, 2024, and was accompanied by both his attorney and his father.
Just four days later, the stalking victim returned to report that Billings and Schexnayder approached him at Lowe’s and offered him the $20,000 bribe. Miller reported the crime.
Hursey said they connected Billings to Philip Moran because the young man had been involved in a March 2024 accident in a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado registered to the former senator.
He confirmed that he also tracked down the $30,000 cash withdrawal that Philip Moran made at the Diamondhead bank and that the money had been split into three $10,000 bundles, each wrapped in yellow bank bands.
During a forensic examination of Schexnayder’s cellphone, Hursey said investigators found photographs showing him holding stacks of cash wrapped in similar yellow bank straps.
Investigators also recovered from Schexnayder’s phone a photograph of Miller, text messages discussing him, and a Google search performed on Dec. 16, 2024, asking, “Is cash bribe a crime?”
Tracking the connections
In other testimony, Hursey went into detail about how calls surged between the Morans and Billings on Dec. 9, 2024, before Alan Moran surrendered on the stalking offense.
He said the calls occurred before Moran surrendered that day.
On the day of the bribe, Hursey said there were four calls between Philip Moran and Billings, including one shortly after the alleged encounter at Lowe’s.
Investigators also documented six calls between Philip Moran and Billings, the day Billings and Schexnayder were taken into custody for bribery.
‘How can they rebuff that?’
In a subsequent call Philip Moran made to his son in jail, he let him know it didn’t work out, though he didn’t use the exact description to explain that because of the recorded jail calls.
Instead, Hursey said, Philip Moran said something like, “So, I talked with them, and they came by, and they are still working on it, but nothing.”
His son was stunned.
“How could they rebuff that?” Alan Moran said.
Alan Moran told his father, “You’re just going to have to put your foot down.”
Immediately after that call ended, Philip Moran called Billings again, but the calls stopped altogether after Alan Moran’s probation revocation hearing.
At that point, Alan Moran was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison for a probation violation on his felony child exploitation conviction.
