Sexual harassment cases against Hinds County sheriff settled for $230,000
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Exclusive documents uncovered by 3 On Your Side show just how much sexual harassment lawsuits lobbed against Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason could cost taxpayers: $230,000.
It took the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department almost four months to produce the settlements, citing confidentiality clauses and a federal judge’s order that supposedly sealed them.
3 On Your Side filed a public records request to get these in mid-January, shortly after news broke that the sheriff had reached settlements with the women in two cases.
Though we were told the settlements had confidentiality clauses, the Mississippi Ethics Commission ruled in 2018 that no public body can agree to make a public record confidential by contract; rather it must be grounded in law or a court decision.
Read more: https://www.wlbt.com/2019/05/16/exclusive-sexual-harassment-cases-against-hinds-county-sheriff-settled/