John Coleman, the former president of the defunct company Express Grain Terminals, has pleaded guilty to state charges in a scheme to defraud farmers and other creditors who did business with the storage and processing facilities he operated in Leflore County.
Coleman, 48, entered guilty pleas on Monday before Leflore County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Carey-McCray to all six of the state’s charges — five counts of fraudulent statements and representation, and one count of obtaining signatures or valuable things with intent to defraud.
Coleman limited his answers during the 45-minute proceeding to “yes” or “yes, your honor” to all of the questions posed by Carey-McCray.
He was allowed to remain free on bond pending his sentencing. The judge agreed to postpone sentencing on the state charges until after Coleman is sentenced on a related federal charge.
Coleman faces 30 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine for his Feb. 22 plea of guilty on one federal count of wire fraud. He had originally been charged with six counts, but in a deal reached with federal prosecutors, Coleman pleaded guilty to just one count. His federal sentencing date is June 13.
On the state charges, Coleman is facing a prison sentence of up to 35 years total, but both his attorney, John Colette, and the prosecutor, Chad Lamar of the Attorney General’s Office, told Carey-McCray that they have agreed on a recommendation that would be less, probably around 15 years.
The judge repeatedly asked Coleman if he understood the charges and that he was changing his plea from not guilty to guilty on each one.
On each occasion, Coleman said he did.
Monday’s guilty pleas are the latest development in the demise of Express Grain and the downfall of its top executive.
In September 2021, the company filed for bankruptcy and Coleman filed for personal bankruptcy.
The company has since been liquidated. Dr. Michael Coleman, a Greenwood ophthalmologist, owned 99% of Express Grain, while his son ran the company and had a minority ownership interest. Dr. Coleman has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
John Coleman was accused of deceiving farmers, creditors and government agencies about the company’s financial decline. The deceit included Express Grain, when applying for the renewal of its grain warehouse licenses, providing for several years the state Agriculture Department with annual audits that had been doctored to conceal the company’s precarious financial condition.
The state indictment also accused Coleman of deceiving farmers to deliver and store with his company about $50 million in grain for which they were not paid.
Earlier on Monday, in an unrelated matter, Carey-McCray continued, for a sixth time, the murder cases involving Greenwood’s Tyrell Stigler.
The request came from Stigler’s attorney, Arthur Calderon. The matter was handled in chambers.
Stigler, 27, faces six counts of murder dating back to 2017. The primary charges are two counts of capital murder and eight counts of aggravated assault from the Oct. 24, 2020, mass shooting at a home in the 400 block of Martin Luther King Drive, where a family had gathered following a funeral. A brother and sister from Chicago, Johnathan Pitts, 42, and Katrina Pitts, 31, were killed by the gunfire.
According to authorities, Stigler had been hired to carry out a targeted killing but went to the wrong house.
- Contact Jeff Byrd at 662-581-7239 or jbyrd@gwcommonwealth.com.
