Judge Casey Moreland arrested on federal charges, in custody

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Davidson County Judge Casey Moreland was arrested and formally charged Tuesday morning by federal authorities in an ongoing investigation into his conduct.

While cuffed at the arms and legs, Moreland appeared in front of a federal magistrate for an arraignment on charges of obstruction of criminal investigations, tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant and retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant in Nashville.

During his initial appearance, the Davidson County judge replied “Yes, sir” when asked if he understood the obstruction of justice charges against him and the potential penalties.

Moreland, whose hands and feet were both cuffed Tuesday, will remain in federal custody at a Grayson County, Kentucky, jail pending another hearing on Friday.

News 2 spoke with his attorney, Peter Strianse, late Tuesday afternoon who said, “He is obviously in a bit of a state of shock. You know he certainly did not expect to be awoken by the FBI at 6 o’clock this morning with a search warrant. So I think he is still reeling a bit from all of that.”

He added, “He is like any person. He did not expect to be here today. He certainly understood that he was under investigation, but he thought that investigation would be like a lot of investigations – they would look at it and look at it and made a determination if they have enough to charge somebody.
This was really an abrupt way to start the day.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Moreland and others on January 25 after allegations they violated federal anti-corruption statutes by soliciting, accepting and extorting things of value including sexual favors, from people he had close relationships with in return for performing official acts that benefited those people and their associates.

Moreland reportedly became aware of the investigation in early February when FBI agents attempted to interview him.

Federal documents also allege that earlier this month, Moreland took steps to “obstruct and interfere with the federal investigation” by attempting to pay a woman to recant her prior statements about him.  (Click to Continue)

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Judge Casey Moreland arrested on federal charges, in custody