UPDATE: Key Beef Plant defendant pleads guilty

By Patsy R. Brumfield Daily Journal OXFORD – A key defendant in the Mississippi Beef Plant prosecutions pleaded late Monday afternoon, the Daily Journal has learned. Robert Moultrie, chairman and chief executive officer of The Facility Group of Smyrna, Ga., entered a plea before Chief Judge Michael P. Mills, admitting he gave $25,000 to an elected "public official" for that person's good will and future considerations connected to his company work on the beef plant. Moultrie, two other company executives and their companies were scheduled for a jury trial Aug. 25 in the U.S. District Court in Oxford before Mills. Moultrie apparently was the only defendant to enter a plea, but insiders say the others could follow in the next few days. Calls to their attorneys were not yet answered The men and the companies were indicted in... [read full story]