Golf cart raises questions at Hinds DA’s office. Where did the money come from?

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Sitting in a corner of a parking garage underneath the Hinds County Courthouse is an electric golf cart with chrome wheels, white stitching on black seats, and a gray seal on four sides bearing the name of the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office and its former leader, Jody Owens.

The vehicle turned up next to a back door to the courthouse sometime after June 29, when Owens pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge and resigned.

In the three months since, Owens’ appointed successor, Brad McCullouch, said his staff can’t find records showing when the lithium-battery-powered cart was purchased, how much it cost or where it came from. The golf cart could now play a role in a state audit looking into the finances of the district attorney’s office.

State funds were not used to purchase the golf cart, said Marcy Scoggins, spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration. And the vehicle also does not appear on Hinds County’s inventory.

Owens told Mississippi Today in August that he bought the golf cart for community engagement purposes, including parades and tailgating with staff at Jackson State University football games.

“On the record, just to be clear, the golf cart has never been on a golf course,” Owens said. He couldn’t remember when, which funds he used or how much he paid.

Dirt in the tread of the tires suggests the golf cart was used. But Mississippi Today could not find any pictures on the office’s social media accounts of the vehicle.

If the golf cart was purchased for more than $5,000, it would have been subject to procurement laws in Mississippi, said Billy Morehead, a Mississippi Christian University accounting professor and past member of the Mississippi Public Procurement Review Board.

Without knowing where the money came from, Morehead said, it is difficult to determine which government entity — the state, Hinds County or the DA’s office — would have been responsible for following those requirements.

In Mississippi, DA’s offices are funded through a combination of state, county and self-generated revenue, subjecting their spending to a patchwork of accountability.

The golf cart is made by a manufacturer called Vivid EV, according to a label on the dashboard. The company’s website appears to be defunct.

Mississippi Today hasn’t been able to independently determine what the DA’s office paid for the cart and whether it exceeded the threshold for county bid requirements. Online golf cart reselling sites list various models made by Vivid EV starting at a little over $8,000.

Soon after being appointed by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, McCullouch said he was alarmed by the lack of financial documentation in the DA’s office. In a written response in September to a public records request from Mississippi Today, McCullouch said his office did not find any bids, invoices, requisitions or receipts documenting the golf cart’s purchase.

McCullouch said he would not release any records, if any exist, about the golf cart, citing a state attorney general’s opinion that allows DAs to withhold records that are part of active criminal investigations. McCullouch declined to elaborate.

Regardless of how the golf cart came to be in the DA’s possession, Morehead said a record of it should exist in an inventory log.

Neither the state auditor’s office nor the Department of Finance and Administration has such a log for the Hinds DA’s office. Mississippi Today obtained Hinds County’s asset inventory through a public records request, but it did not include a listing for the golf cart.

“I’m not sure exactly the source of funds, but it didn’t come through our purchasing,” said Hinds County Administrator Lynn Seals, who added that golf carts do not have to be registered in Hinds County.

If Owens used self-generated funds to buy the golf cart, state or county officials would not have had oversight. DAs can use self-generated funds for a range of law enforcement activities.

It’s common for law enforcement agencies in Mississippi to have golf carts. The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, for example, uses golf carts to patrol the state fair.

Nevertheless, Morehead questioned why a DA would need a golf cart. In Hinds County, prosecutors work on the fifth floor of the courthouse, taking an elevator to attend trials happening in courtrooms below.

“Where is the DA trying to go?” he asked.

Owens, a Democrat, was elected Hinds DA in late 2019. He frequently pushed for more funding for the office, including state appropriations to purchase electronic case management software and hire additional prosecutors.

In 2023, Owens was among several Jackson officials who were ensnared in a wide-ranging FBI probe into corruption in Mississippi’s capital city. He is set to be sentenced in November.