Mississippi Man Arrested for Multi-State Fraud

Deshun Williams, 33, of Columbus, Mississippi, was arrested in Starkville after a multi-state law enforcement operation for a series of fraudulent transactions committed from March to June 2025. Williams faces multiple felony charges, including credit card fraud and false pretenses, affecting at least eight businesses in Starkville and others in Oxford, Horn Lake, Clay County, Pickens County (Alabama), and Tennessee. Investigators found Williams used stolen credit cards and fake identities to carry out the fraud, and he has outstanding warrants in Tennessee. Authorities from several states coordinated to apprehend him, with additional charges expected. In an unrelated case, Dontrelle Sanford of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was arrested in Louisiana for attempting to smuggle over $400,000 in contraband, including tobacco and steroids, into a federal prison. Both cases demonstrate the importance of interagency cooperation in addressing multi-state crime.