Prichard, Alabama, was, from what I’ve been told, once a comfortable, working-class little suburb just outside of Mobile proper. Many members of downtown Mobile families still have fond memories of heading out of the sweltering city to visit their grandparents in what had once been a factory town for the shipbuilding, paper, and defense industries that had quite literally exploded along the riverfront during the Second World War and post-war boom.
But the city’s fortunes began to decline as the population slipped when a housing boom began developing the suburbs, and people left for the new homes. Many of those former, once comfortable and vibrant areas fell into disrepair and have had a helluva time since.
Prichard has fared particularly badly and, incorporated since 1925, has been served most egregiously by its elected officials, especially in the past few decades.
The violent crime seems to be so pervasive that when we watch our local news out of Mobile at 5 every evening, and there’s a report of a shooting or a body found, we’ll look at each other and one of us says, ‘Prichard?’ That usually seems to be the correct…well, shoot, it’s not even a guess anymore.
Just a few years ago, the city water authority was in dire, DIRE straits and we were all riveted by the drama unfolding. For years, the poor (literally and figuratively) residents had been receiving ever more astronomical water bills and less water thanks to boil water notices, sewage spills, and outages.
While the water system had always been plagued by outdated infrastructure and low pressure, the water bills turned out to have been a symptom of water authority officials greasing their own palms instead of making sure their customers got the service they were paying for.
In 2022, four current and former employees of Prichard’s Water Works & Sewer Board were arrested over millions in ‘misspent’ funds.
…By 2014, water service in Prichard was so unreliable that state legislators proposed a ballot measure to dissolve the water board altogether.
Under that plan, Prichard’s water board assets would be taken over by the nearby Mobile Area Water and Sewer Service, which is larger and more financially stable. Fifty-two percent of county voters approved the plan. But the Prichard board sabotaged the plan, signing a contract with a management company, Severn Trent Water, that critics called a “poison pill.”
With that new contract, the Mobile utility would be on the hook for almost $33 million in additional management expenses. Unsurprisingly, the utility backed out of the deal. The management contract also began a relationship between the Prichard water board and Bradley, who started as a contractor with Severn Trent and would eventually be hired outright as the Prichard utility’s operations manager.
At first, things seemed to go well under Bradley. By 2019, she’d secured a $55 million bond for the utility with the goal of completing vital repairs, introducing a new electronic metering system and possibly even drilling new water wells. New wells would eliminate the board’s need to purchase water from the Mobile utility — its largest monthly expense.
But reliability issues persisted, and some customers began receiving bills that were more than 10 times their monthly average. Residents tried to dispute or resolve their bills, but for months those efforts went nowhere: Water board members had opted to take a year-long hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving the public with little recourse for their complaints.
With nowhere to turn, customers began lobbying Prichard City Council, which appoints the water board, to do something. The city council replaced two of the five water board members, and the new members convened to study financials.
They started to notice some strange charges.
According to current water board chairman Russell Heidelberg, who demanded a review of the utility’s expenses, Bradley and other supervisors used company credit cards to purchase luxury goods from Gucci and Louis Vuitton, as well as first-class airfare and five-star accommodations in New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and New Orleans.
That was on top of other personal luxuries like streaming subscriptions, gift cards and colored contact lenses. In addition, tens of thousands of dollars in public funds had been spent on vague invoices with no vendor names, in a scandal that the local press soon took to calling “Guccigate.” (Bradley did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)
Fast forward to today, and the court system is still trying to untangle the mess of alleged corruption, dubious customer bills, legal challenges and general water problems.
The news at night was filled with visuals of operations manager Nia Bradley’s front lawn, covered in tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of designer purses she’d purchased with the Board’s credit cards and bank account. It was stunning.
The federal indictments were finally handed down last year.
Today, U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello announced criminal charges against seven defendants related to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme at the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Prichard (“Prichard Water Board”). A federal grand jury in Mobile has returned a thirty-two count indictment against five individuals, while two people have already pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
According to the indictment unsealed today, Nia Bradley, 50, of Mobile, Alabama; Randy Burden, 47, of Prichard, Alabama; Steve Jones, 61, of Mobile, Alabama; Larry Knight, 35, of Mobile, Alabama; Dejuan Lamar, 47, of Mobile, Alabama; Ayanna Payton, 47, of Eight Mile, Alabama; and Stephanie Hunn, 49, of Mobile, Alabama, were charged with various federal crimes listed below. Payton and Hunn previously pleaded guilty to all charges against them and are awaiting sentencing. Their proceedings were sealed in light of the ongoing investigation which led to charges recently filed against Bradley, Burden, Jones, Knight, and Lamar. Each of the defendants face potential sentences of decades in prison.
The Grand Jury returned an indictment alleging the following scheme: starting as early as 2018 through 2022, the defendants bilked the Prichard Water Board of at least approximately $2.4 million dollars through a false and fraudulent contractor scheme involving outside contractors and employees and board members of the Prichard Water Board. Approximately $960,000 of the money was illegally laundered, including through a business owned and operated by Bradley and Burden.
The Prichard Water Board provides water and sewer services to approximately 8,000 residential and 2,000 commercial clients and is funded by customer payments and also through a $55 million bond it secured in 2019. The indictment alleges that the criminal scheme involved the creation of a fictitious business by Hunn and the creation of false invoices to justify unlawful payments to Hunn, Jones, Knight, and Lamar. Bradley and Burden, who were employees of the Prichard Water Board, allegedly falsified payment authorizations and received kick-back payments and other benefits.
Payton and another uncharged co-conspirator served on the board of the Prichard Water Board where they are alleged to have falsified payment authorizations and received kick-back payments and other benefits for their roles. Several of the conspirators communicated through coded messages and destroyed evidence to attempt to avoid detection of the crimes, according to the indictment. Bradley, Payton, Hunn, and Jones committed tax fraud to avoid revealing the criminal scheme and to avoid paying taxes to the United States. Through its criminal cases, the United States is seeking money judgments in the amounts of approximately $2,459,279.39, $960,851.41, and $302,134.90, as well as the forfeiture of three real properties which were purchased using fraud proceeds and involved in the money laundering scheme.
And four years later, defendants are still fighting over what evidence is admissible in this gobsmacking fraud case.
Federal prosecutors Monday asked a judge to deny a defense request to bar certain evidence against a man charged with defrauding the Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board.
Larry Knight was a painting contractor hired to do work for the utility that serves Prichard and Chickasaw. Prosecutors allege that he received more than $700,000 for allowing his company to be used in fraudulent billing records.
Knight is one of five defendants named in the indictment. The indictment also names the former operations manager, Nia Malkia Bradley, who has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
Meanwhile, Prichard stews in another, homegrown, miserable mess.
In mid-June, a Prichard police officer was arrested in a federal bribery case. What a snek-pit of police corruption that busted wide open.
A Prichard police officer accused of taking bribes, concealing evidence and helping criminals avoid prosecution appeared in federal court Tuesday afternoon after a years-long investigation by federal, state and local agencies.
Emmanuel Dotch II was arrested Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service and is facing federal charges including bribery, evidence tampering, conspiracy to commit extortion and civil rights offenses.
According to U.S. Attorney Sean Costello, investigators allege Dotch was associated with violent criminals and drug dealers in the Mobile and Prichard areas and used his position as a law enforcement officer to help them avoid prosecution.
Federal prosecutors say the allegations include concealing evidence after crimes of violence were committed, conducting unlawful traffic stops and detentions, accepting bribes in exchange for allowing people to avoid arrest and accepting payments to commit illegal acts while acting under color of law.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said dozens of state cases could be impacted.
It turns out that some Prichard police officers had been taking bribes and making evidence disappear – or maybe ‘appear,’ depending on what was needed – for ages.
…Prichard Police Officer Emanuel Dotch faces charges of bribery, evidence tampering, conspiracy to commit extortion, and civil rights offenses, officials said during a joint press conference from the MCSO, FBI and Homeland Security.
A criminal complaint unsealed today alleged that Dotch:
- “Associates with and assists violent criminals and drug dealers in the Prichard and Mobile areas.”
- “Concealed evidence for individuals after they’ve committed crimes of violence to assist those individuals in avoiding prosecution.”
- “Conspired with other Prichard Police Department officers to conduct unlawful traffic stops and detention of victims to deprive them of rights secured by our Constitution and the laws of the United States.”
- “Extorted individuals for bribes in exchange for letting them go free from arrest…”
- “Agreed to accept corrupt payments to commit illegal acts, including transporting bulk marijuana while acting under color of law as a law enforcement officer.”
The MCSO, Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration were among the agencies that investigated Dotch.
The Mobile Sheriff’s Office stepped in to run the police department and start cataloging evidence before it, too, could vanish in the panic over the detective’s bust. After a week on the job, they figured it was going to take at least six months to straighten out the evidence locker mess alone.
…Among the tasks deputies inherited was cataloging the chaotic evidence collection they found at the Prichard Police Department.
“We’re estimating the condition of the property evidence room is going to take a good six months to properly catalog and remove, and relocate the items that are in there,” Burch said. “And again, words can’t describe how bad that evidence room is. And they’re still finding things as they’re moving through.”
But with the bad, also comes some good.
“The best thing that’s come out of it, they’re literally citizens running up and hugging the deputies when they come to calls, because they haven’t been getting that service, you know, for so long,” Burch said. “And so it’s just I think it’s a positive thing for the citizens of Prichard.”
The second Prichard cop was arrested at the beginning of the second week of July.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate corruption allegations inside the Prichard Police Department after a second officer was arrested.
Sheriff Paul Burch said the investigation is far from over, as allegations involving Prichard officers have been raised for years.
“You betray the public trust, and we’re not going to stop till we get one of them,” said Burch.
The investigation led to an arrest Wednesday, when 36-year-old Jihad Irby was charged with extortion and bribery charges. Three weeks after Emanuel Dotch II became the first Prichard officer arrested in the investigation. Dotch faces federal and state charges.
As the two cops were arraigned, the court heard that there were over 200 cases pending in Prichard that now were in jeopardy because of the corruption investigation.
And the evidence team revealed a heartbreaking moment in the locker inventory.
…Investigators have also discovered problems inside the department’s evidence room, where improperly stored evidence included firearms, drugs, and sexual assault kits.
“When I walked in and saw all of those boxes, many of them that had not even been submitted. You know, my heart sank. Each one of those boxes represents a sexual assault victim who went through a completely invasive process. After being allegedly violated. And then that box was just put on a shelf and nothing was ever done,” said Blackwood.
According to Blackwood, all of the sexual assault kits have since been turned over to the FBI for testing.
Last night, Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies arrested the Prichard police chief and a police department major, while a grand jury recommended that the government tear the whole police department down and start over.
Deputies with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office escorted Prichard Police Chief Walter Knight and Major Aaron Tucker to waiting vehicles after they were arrested Wednesday morning.
District Attorney Keith Blackwood said they were charged with theft by deception and use of office for personal gain in connection with their positions at the Prichard Police Department.
According to Blackwood, Knight and Tucker are accused of using police department property, time and gear to perform private jobs while on duty with the department, such as providing escort services for funeral processions.
“We believe they were working hand-in-hand and working side jobs, funeral processions during working time, being paid as officers and being paid by private companies,” Blackwood said.
“That also deprives citizens of Prichard of officers that were supposed to be on the streets protecting them,” he said.
He said the investigation indicated this misuse of time and property has been going on “for years,” and they were doing it “multiple times a week.”
To date, the pair are charged with a class C felony each, meaning exceeding $1,500, but Blackwood said this isn’t the end.
“I expect that number will rise as we continue to investigate,” he said.
The Mobile County District Attorney called it ‘cultural rot.’ It’s been eating this little city from the inside out.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood announced indictments against officers in Prichard on Wednesday, describing it as “a cultural rot that was going on at the Prichard Police Department.”
A grand jury indicted Prichard Police chief Walter Knight and Maj. Aaron Tucker for use of official position or office for personal gain. The pair are accused of using public equipment for side jobs escorting funeral processions.
Blackwood offered an update on the arrest of officer Emanuel Naman Dotch II. Dotch was federally indicted for multiple offenses. Due to evidence in that case, Blackwood said prosecution against two individuals for drug offenses has been dismissed.
Other officers have been charged with crimes in connection to their positions as police officers.
Ryan Phillips is charged with receiving stolen firearms and a federal crime.
Jihad Irby is charged with bribery and extortion,
Malachi Ligon is charged with third-degree theft of property and distribution of private images.
Blackwood said multiple prosecutions have been dismissed due to officer charges and improperly stored items in the Prichard Police Department’s evidence room.
Prichard’s police chief has been arrested amid a widening corruption investigation, and a special grand jury has issued a recommendation that the city’s police force be “abolished” and rebuilt.
Read more 👇 pic.twitter.com/hcVcQd1HGQ
— AL.com (@aldotcom) July 22, 2026
I don’t know where depressed Prichard finds the funds to pay for the Mobile County Sheriff to handle their law enforcement, but at least they will have some justice if a lawbreaker is caught, unlike what they were paying for with their former police department.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch doesn’t know what’s ahead for Prichard. There’s just so much working against the community, and the mayor’s only been in office for about 10 months.
…Burch said he believed that Prichard usually operated with around 22 officers. That would mean more than a quarter of the force has been indicted so far.
Rebuilding likely would be a strain for Prichard, Burch said. The challenges start with economics.
“They are the lowest-paid agency in the county,” the sheriff said. “And so it’s going to be hard to attract a chief to begin. You would have to start with a chief to start building a department. And again, you’re going to have a hard time recruiting officers when you’re the lowest-paying agency [and] you offer no retirement whatsoever.”
Burch said that if that didn’t change, there was a significant risk a new Prichard force would develop the same problems as the old one. “Because most of what they have either were not employable by other agencies or been run off from them. Until they do something about their financial situation … I think that’s going to be a long-term project.”
There are holes, and then there are some holes that seem bottomless.
…[Mobile DA] Blackwood said that Prichard’s residents can look forward to better days.
“To the citizens of Prichard, I want to say this directly,” he said. “You deserve a police department worthy of your trust. You deserve officers who enforce the law fairly and impartially. You deserve investigations that are conducted professionally. You deserve evidence that is collected, preserved, and protected with integrity. And you deserve leaders who place public service above personal interest. That is not too much to ask.”
Prichard residents are probably asking themselves what they have to do and where they go to get them, though.
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