America's Weirdest Mayor pleads guilty to weapons charges

America's Weirdest Mayor is in trouble again.

The Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi pleaded guilty to weapons charges yesterday as part of a deal to stay in office:

[Mayor Frank] Melton, a former Jackson television station executive and one-time state drug enforcement agency chief, was elected in 2005 on a tough-on-crime platform.

He has drawn national attention for his unconventional leadership style - including taking part in police raids and roadblocks - in the city of 184,000, which has a crime rate nearly twice the national average Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson has also brought unrelated charges against Melton and his two Police Department bodyguards for their alleged role in smashing up a duplex on Aug. 26. Melton has said the home was a drug haven, an allegation the property owners deny. The property owners also have sued Melton. [AP]

The deal involved crossing out words on Melton's indictment. The Attorney

This guy is nuts. He impersonates police officers and goes on self-assigned "raids" on suspected drug targets. In the aforementioned incident, he allegedly smashed up someone's house with a sledge hammer because he suspected drug dealing on the premises.

Comments

[utica]

once when i was 12, DEA and FBI agents used my apartment as a stakeout point for a crackhouse across the street (hell's kitchen in the 80's was quite unseemly). anyway, the law enforcement officials were very clearly coked out of their heads, and i firmly believe that they derived their anti-drug gusto (along with the ability to stay up all night and accomplish nothing) directly from drug use.
the case of jackson's mayor sounds very similar, i.e. people that act irrationally violent are often on hard drugs (or just plain liquor). i could be wrong, but where's the fun in that?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Utica, I am literally laughing out loud. That's a great story. Thanks.

[Jason]

Why have I not heard of this wackjob before?