Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents raided the office and business of a Mississippi prosecutor, but no one is saying why. The FBI on May 22 raided the office and business of Jody Owens, the District Attorney for Hinds County, Mississippi, who played a key role in exposing welfare scams in the state. However, officials have not disclosed whether Owens himself is under investigation, The Mississippi Free Press reported.

FBI agents spent several hours searching Downtown Cigar Co., a cigar bar in downtown Jackson owned by Owens. They also removed items from his office in the Hinds County Courthouse. The reason for the search remains undisclosed, as Marshay Lawson, spokesperson for the FBI’s Jackson office, confirmed.

“The FBI is executing federal search warrants at multiple locations,” Lawson said. “The affidavit in support of the search warrants has been sealed by the court and so I am prohibited from commenting further.”

Owens, currently serving his second term as district attorney, did not provide specifics about the raid. “This morning, FBI agents came to our offices,” Owens stated. “We are fully cooperating with their efforts. The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is fully functioning and continues its work on behalf of the citizens of Hinds County.”

Owens is listed as the manager and sole member of the company that owns Downtown Cigar Co., which also holds a state permit to operate as a bar selling alcohol.

Before being elected district attorney in 2019, Owens was the lead attorney in Mississippi for the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization known for civil rights litigation. Owens campaigned as a criminal justice reformer, emphasizing the prosecution of violent crimes while seeking alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

Jackson has struggled with a high murder rate, prompting Republican lawmakers to increase funding for Owens to hire more prosecutors. They also expanded the state-run Capitol Police, controlled by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, to patrol all of Jackson and established a state-run court with appointed judges. Many Democrats have criticized these moves as a “white takeover” of a predominantly Black city, arguing for more resources to be allocated towards crime prevention, AP reported. Despite an NAACP lawsuit, the law was upheld in federal court, and the conflict has subsided somewhat in recent months.

In 2022, Owens was cited by Capitol Police for simple assault, a misdemeanor, after allegedly aiming and pointing a gun at a man from Hattiesburg who was visiting a woman in a downtown Jackson apartment, AP reported.

District Attorney Jody E. Owens, II, photo via Office of the Hines County Attorney website, https://hindsda.com/about/