FORREST COUNTY – A Hattiesburg lawyer from Lowndes County was arrested Monday after more than three weeks of evading authorities on a civil contempt charge.
Cory Ferraez’s arrest was ordered on June 19 by the 10th District Chancery Court after he allegedly failed to turn over $450,000 from a wrongful death settlement.
Ferraez was taken into custody on Monday by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office after he voluntarily appeared at a court hearing in Forrest County to argue a motion to vacate the court’s incarceration order against him, Court Administrator Gloria Moorer told The Dispatch.
The charges against Ferraez stem from a wrongful death settlement following the death of Stephen Ray “Fuzzy” Weatherford in 2022.
Ferraez, the attorney for the estate, was entrusted to hold the $450,000 in a trust until liens and fees against the estate were resolved. Ferraez missed three court hearings to discuss the status of the case between November 2024 and April.
He was ordered to appear June 16 to explain why he had missed the previous hearings and to provide documentation of the estate funds in the trust account. But Ferraez missed that hearing, too, leading the chancery judge to give Ferraez a June 18 deadline to turn over the money to the chancery clerk’s office to be disbursed to Sylvia Weatherford, the widow of the deceased and sole beneficiary.
Ferraez missed the June 18 deadline as well, and the judge ordered his arrest the following day.
During Monday’s hearing, Ferraez cited mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction and limited staff as reasons to vacate the order for his arrest. A motion to vacate in legal proceedings means to set aside or annul a previous order.
“These are very serious issues, and I take them very seriously, but because of these mental issues that I’ve had, it’s been extremely difficult to be able to practice … and come to hearings,” Ferraez said.
Ferraez asked the court to set aside incarceration, so that he could instead attend a rehabilitation treatment facility.
“In summation, I wouldn’t be before the court today if I didn’t believe sincerely that the contempt wasn’t due to serious and severe medical issues and my mental health,” he said. “… I never had a track record of this until I began experiencing these issues.”
Ferraez’s motion to vacate the order was denied, and the court demanded Ferraez be placed in custody until he tendered the remainder of the money owed to the Perry County Clerk’s Office which, after two previous payments, totals $195,168.77.
Ferraez said he could not pay the remaining balance on Monday because his bank accounts had been “shut down” for reasons he could not explain.
“You took an oath as a lawyer to represent your clients zealously, and you have failed to do that in this case, a result of which has caused a widow who has no other source of income other than social security to live without air conditioning and to almost lose her home because these funds were (there),” 10th District Chancery Court Judge Sheila S. Smallwood told Ferraez during in the hearing.
History
Ferraez has a previous criminal history in Lowndes County. He received a six-month suspended jail sentence and paid a $200 fine after pleading guilty in 2018 in Lowndes County Circuit Court for voting illegally in a 2015 election, according to a press release by then-Attorney General Jim Hood.
Ferraez was running for state representative for District 102, which includes Hattiesburg, in 2017 when confronted with his voting record, the release said.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s office confirmed to The Dispatch Ferraez had filed a motion for expungement, and there are no records related to the voter fraud conviction held by the Lowndes County circuit clerk’s office.
Ferraez was indicted by a Forrest County Grand Jury in October 2021 on four counts of embezzlement involving former clients. A second indictment accuses Ferraez of embezzlement, obtaining signature with intent to defraud and fraud by mail or other means.
The second indictment also accuses Ferraez and his brother, Jace Ferraez, of conspiracy to obtain signature with intent to defraud. Both cases are still open and pending trial, according to the Forrest County Circuit Court’s Office.
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