Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. OXFORD — Former Hollandale Police Chief Brandon Addison pleaded guilty Thursday to charges involving the transportation and distribution of illegal drugs through portions of the Mississippi Delta and into Memphis via Highway 61.  He is the principal defendant in a federal drug trafficking case involving nine former Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers. Addison, 41, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy. An indictment in October accused him of accepting $37,500 in multiple bribe payments, the most of any other defendant across six indictments of former Delta law enforcement officers and associates. He also traveled to Miami in April 2023 and September 2024 to discuss strategy with FBI agents posing as members of the Mexican drug cartel.  Addison was also indicted in October for carrying or using a firearm during four drug trafficking runs as well as while conspiring to traffick illegal drugs. He also was charged with attempting to aid and abet the illegal transport of drugs on four separate dates, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi dropped the charges as part of Addison’s plea agreement. Addison previously served as a Humphreys County sheriff’s office deputy and also had worked for the  police departments in Arcola and Metcalfe. Senior U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills accepted Addison’s guilty plea and set sentencing for Aug. 13. Mills released Addison on the conditions of the $10,000 unsecured bond after his arrest. Addison was arrested on Oct. 30 along with former Humphreys County sheriff’s deputy Javery Howard, former Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston, former Washington County sheriff’s deputy Truron Grayson, former Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams, four additional former law enforcement officers, a former corrections officer and five associates as part of the conspiracy to aid and abet the transport and distribution of roughly 55 pounds of cocaine on multiple runs.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped Washington County sheriff’s deputy Amber Holmes’ charges on Oct. 30 due to exonerating evidence from subsequent interviews with sources. Howard is scheduled to change his plea on March 26.  The rest are scheduled for trial on July 20 in Oxford. Williams, who subsequently stepped down as sheriff, pleaded not guilty and promised to mount a “complete defense.” Neither Addison nor his attorney Taylor Webb could immediately be reached for comment. Under federal guidelines, Addison can be sentenced to between 10 years and life in prison. He could also face up to $10 million in fines. On Oct. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed six indictments, which ensnared more than 14 current and former Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers. Those charged were arrested in pre-sunrise sweeps in some cases at private homes by special agents in armored cars. The Justice Department charged current and former officers from sheriff’s offices in Washington, Humphreys and Sunflower counties and police departments in Greenville, Greenwood, Isola, Hollandale, Metcalfe and Yazoo City. The department also charged Mississippi Delta-based former highway patrolman Marquivius Bankhead and former state Department of Corrections guard Marcus Nolan on drug trafficking charges. Asahn Roach, who was named in the same indictment as Addison, was employed by Memphis-Shelby County Schools as a school resource officer. Pierre Lakes, a Drew native, owns a real estate investment company. Torio Chaz Wiseman was employed by the Memphis Business Academy charter school as a football coach. At the conspiracy’s outset, a local drug dealer and FBI informant introduced Addison and Howard to an FBI agent posing as a member of the Mexican drug cartel who offered bribe payments in exchange for the safe transport of illegal narcotics, namely cocaine, through the Mississippi Delta. Addison and associates escorted the drug transports on three separate occasions in March 2023, March 2024 and July 2024, also escorting the proceeds of the drug trafficking in October 2023 and March 2024. ...read more read less