CORINTH, Miss.–In a county where several public officials are already in trouble, you might think there would be little left to surprise you. You might be wrong. County Supervisor Jimmy “Dal” Nelms, 47, has been arrested and charged with grabbing a bag of cash from an office at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Store, while disguising himself as an O’Reilly’s employee.
Nelms turned himself in to police Thursday. The incident happened about two weeks ago, said Police Chief Ralph Dance.
Dance said Nelms and the store manager knew each other and that’s how Nelms got into the office to supposedly use the phone. When the manager saw that Nelms had changed into an O’Reilly’s shirt, he asked him to leave. The next day he noticed the deposit bag was gone.
In December Nelms was charged with “cooking the books”, manipulating county money to go to himself that came from the sale of heavy equipment.
He was out of jail on bond, but was under an order from State Auditor Stacey Pickering to repay more than $300,000 to the taxpayers. He could also get over 600 years in prison if he is convicted of the previous charges.
