Columbus Councilman Pierre Beard was arrested again Tuesday, this time for failing to pay his justice court fines and having a misdemeanor amount of marijuana in his home.
It’s the fourth time Beard, 36, has been booked in jail in the past year and fifth time since November 2021, all for misdemeanor charges. He represents Ward 4 on the city council and was first elected in 2019.
A warrant was issued Tuesday for unpaid fines the councilman had accrued on previous charges, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins told The Dispatch, one related to a March 12 drug conviction and the other to a April 5 citation the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries wrote him for fishing without a license, according to justice court records.
When deputies arrived just after 10 a.m. to serve the warrant at Beard’s residence, Hawkins said Beard threw a joint on the ground when he came to the door, creating probable cause to obtain a search warrant of the home.
During the search, officers found a misdemeanor amount of marijuana, Hawkins said, that neither Beard nor the home’s other occupant, 29-year-old Quavis Betts, claimed responsibility for owning. Both were arrested at the scene.
Hawkins said neither produced a medical marijuana card.
Beard was convicted March 12 in justice court for a count each of possession of marijuana and ecstasy and fined $1,167.84. The ticket for fishing without a license he received a month later carried a $232 fine.
Hawkins told The Dispatch that Beard paid off one drug possession fine and had agreed to a payment plan for the other counts, which justice court records indicate totaled $892.75. He only paid $92.91 toward that debt before it went delinquent, and Hawkins said Beard’s arrest warrant specifies the councilman must sit in jail until he pays the $799.84 balance.
Beard was released Tuesday evening from Lowndes County Adult Detention Center
Beard’s mounting criminal record
Betts was charged for two counts of armed robbery outside Waffle House on Highway 45 in June 2023. Surveillance footage from the robberies shows Beard interacting with Betts in the parking lot. Columbus police arrested Betts hours later trying to enter a hotel room booked in Beard’s name.
While Beard wasn’t charged in the robberies, Betts was later indicted. Deputies tracked down Betts at Beard’s home Dec. 11 to serve the warrant for the indictment. There, deputies smelled marijuana “emitting” from the house and obtained a search warrant that yielded the marijuana and ecstasy, for which both were arrested.
Before Beard’s March 12 afternoon court appearance on those charges, deputies arrested him that morning at City Hall for an unpaid traffic ticket.
Beard was arrested Dec. 1 with Betts in Gordo, Alabama, for driving under the influence, marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession and illegal alcohol, all misdemeanors. Beard pleaded guilty in August.
In November 2021, Beard was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence after allegedly discharging a firearm during a dispute with his then-wife. That charge was later dismissed.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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