Former Canton Aldermen Sentenced to 46 Months in Federal Prison for Bribery Scheme

Jackson, MS – Andrew Grant, 41, and Eric Gilkey, 58, of Canton, Mississippi were sentenced yesterday to 46 months in federal prison for their roles in a bribery scheme involving former Madison County engineer Rudolph M. Warnock Jr.

In July, a federal jury convicted their co-defendants, Rudolph M. Warnock Jr., and Cleveland Anderson, of multiple felony charges following an eight-day trial. Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment charged Warnock and Anderson with conspiring to commit bribery. Warnock was also charged in Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and the completed offense of honest services wire fraud. Warnock and Anderson were both convicted on all the counts with which they were charged in the indictment. In December, Warnock was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Anderson was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Grant and Gilkey, both former members of the Canton Board of Aldermen, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Anderson and Warnock in the bribery scheme in November 2022. The Canton Board of Aldermen had authority to select and appoint members of the Board of Commissioners of the Canton Municipal Utilities agency (CMU). At Warnock’s behest, Grant and Gilkey appointed Anderson to serve on the CMU Board of Commissioners. It was Anderson who facilitated Warnock’s hiring as the CMU engineer in 2016.

The evidence at trial revealed that Warnock directed payments and rewards to Anderson, Gilkey, and Grant in exchange for preferential treatment that resulted in lucrative city engineering contracts for Warnock. The bribes supplied by Warnock included thousands of dollars in cash, concert tickets, and football tickets in New Orleans, Louisiana. In exchange for those bribes, Anderson, Grant, and Gilkey ceded control of the CMU purse to Warnock.

United States Attorney Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kimberly T. Purdie and David H. Fulcher prosecuted the case.