Two individuals involved in embezzling $150,000 from the Hinds County Election Commission in 2021 will not be facing jail time, according to an order by Hinds County Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs.
In May 2022, State Auditor Shad White released that Undare Kidd and Trafonda Kidd had submitted a false invoice for services not provided to Hinds County taxpayers, taking a portion of money from $1.9 million in grants awarded by the Center for Tech and Civic Life—a nonprofit organization funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
At the time, the Kidds were the fourth and fifth individuals included in the case following the arrests of Toni Johnson, Sudie Jones-Teague, and Cedric Cornelius earlier that year.
Undare Kidd, the owner of Innovative Concepts 50 LLC, received over $149,000 in contracts from Johnson, who was District 2 Election Commissioner at the time. The funding was intended to be used to provide safe voting against COVID-19, but indictments show that Kidd’s company did not provide any services.
Now, Undare Kidd will be required to attend a pre-trial intervention program for one year, as well as pay restitution of $39,500 to the state. Additionally, Kidd has been ordered to pay a total of nearly $5,000 to the Office of District Attorney for the program and costs from the investigation.
Trafonda Kidd, his wife, will not be required to serve time as Undare Kidd has accepted all responsibility for the charges in the case.
At this time, Johnson has been sentenced to 15 years suspended, attend the program for one year, and then serve four years in supervised probation. As for Cornelius, he will attend Mississippi’s intensive supervision program for five years with 20 years suspended.
Two individuals arrested in connection with Hinds County Election Commission case
