Ex-Nashville Judge Moreland Pleads Guilty To Obstruction, Theft

NASHVILLE, TN -- Former Davidson County General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland pleaded guilty Thursday to federal obstruction of justice and theft charges.

Moreland, 60, pleaded guilty to five counts relating to obstruction of justice, witness tampering and stealing money from an organization receiving federal funds.

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First indicted in April 2017 on five obstruction of justice charges, Moreland admitted that he learned he was the target of a federal investigation into whether he was trading sex for favorable rulings. He then devised a scheme to pay a woman to sign an affidavit recanting her allegations and to have drugs planted in her car to destroy her credibility. He used a so-called burner phone registered under the name "Raul Rodriguez" to communicate with an accomplice who later became an FBI informant.

Moreland was arrested after a subsequent indictment in March 2018, charging him with five more counts connected to an embezzlement scheme involving the Davidson County Drug Court Foundation. Moreland admitted he ordered the foundation's director to deliver cash to his office in envelopes. Once he learned of the FBI investigation, he told her to destroy the records of those payments. While he was on pre-trial release on the initial indictment, Moreland suggested that the foundation's director lie to a federal grand jury.

Moreland will be sentenced in August. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he could receive up to four years in prison. He resigned from the bench shortly after the first indictment.

He's been held in solitary confinement for his own protection.

Photo via U.S. Department of Justice