A Jackson, Miss., man pled guilty to a charge of retaliating against a federal employee by filing a false lien, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Field Office.
According to court documents and his plea, Robert Earl Henderson, Jr., 49, knowingly filed an “affidavit of commercial lien” in the Circuit Clerk’s office of Hinds County on July 27, 2018. In this lien, Henderson alleged facts of mistreatment by law enforcement officers, including an FBI special agent, then-Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason, 20 unnamed officers and his own attorney. He filed his lien against these parties claiming a debt owed to him from them of $500,000.
Henderson previously testified in a state prosecution against then-Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith that he carried bribe money from state defendants to Smith on several occasions. That state prosecution relied in part on an FBI agent’s investigation. During the time of his testimony, Henderson had state charges of another bribery and possession of a firearm as a felon pending against him. The state’s charges are currently pending against him.
In retaliation for the state’s decision not to dismiss those charges, Henderson filed the lien against several people including the FBI agent.
Henderson is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9, 2021and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.