A Hattiesburg attorney from Lowndes County is wanted by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office after allegedly failing to turn over $450,000 from a wrongful death settlement.
Cory Ferraez’s arrest was ordered on June 19 by the 10th District Chancery Court in Hattiesburg after he neglected to fulfill a court order demanding the funds, which are supposed to be held in a trust account under his authority.
Court Administrator Gloria Moorer told The Dispatch the court found him in civil contempt and ordered him jailed “until he tendered the sum of $450,000 to the Perry County Clerk’s Office.”
More than two weeks after his arrest was ordered, Perry County Sheriff’s Office Administrator Michelle Roberts said Ferraez’s whereabouts are still unknown.
“As far as I know, right now we don’t have (a) clue where he’s at,” Roberts told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “We’re actively looking for him.”
Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said he received an order through Perry County Sheriff’s Department two weeks ago to arrest Ferraez if located. Ferraez still has family connections in Columbus.
“We’ve checked all the locations up here that we know about, where he could be, and we have not found him up here,” Hawkins said Wednesday. “However, that doesn’t mean that he’s here or not here.”
The charges Ferraez faces in Perry County stem from a 2022 wrongful death settlement following the death of Stephen Ray “Fuzzy” Weatherford in a vehicle accident, according to court documents posted on the Hattiesburg-based WDAM website.
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. 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.
He was also removed as counsel on the case.
Ferraez missed the June 18 deadline, and the judge ordered his arrest the following day. Ferraez has been on the lam since.
Moorer confirmed to The Dispatch that a paralegal from Ferraez’s office delivered a check for $214,831.23 to the chancery clerk’s office on June 27. Perry County Sheriff Jacob Gardner questioned the paralegal, who said she did not know Ferraez’s whereabouts, according to WDAM reporting.
Court documents say another check totaling $25,000 was delivered by Ferraez’s office to Sylvia Weatherford in December 2024, though the check was rejected for insufficient funds.
Anyone who has information on Ferraez’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Perry County Sheriff’s Department dispatch unit at (601) 964-8461.
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. At the time, he was living in Hattiesburg but cast a ballot in Lowndes County, the release said.
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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