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Federal Public Corruption Investigation Continues After Moreland Arrest

Federal Public Corruption Investigation Continues After Moreland Arrest
Posted at 7:14 PM, Mar 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-30 13:13:57-04

Federal prosecutors say the investigation that led to the arrest of Nashville Judge Casey Moreland is not over.

Moreland was arrested Tuesday for obstruction of justice through bribery and witness tampering, but the criminal complaint sheds light on the larger public corruption investigation that is underway.

The FBI opened its investigation into Moreland on January 25th.

Agents tried to interview him February 1st, but he declined and referred questions to his lawyer.

Court documents reveal the investigation centers on whether Moreland "solicited, accepted and extorted things of value -- including sexual favors, travel and lodging" in exchange for favorable treatment in his court.

The criminal complaint states the FBI and federal grand jury are investigating Moreland's relationships with several people -- including his former mistress Natalie Amos.

As NewsChannel 5 Investigates previously reported, Moreland intervened on a Metro Police traffic stop so that Amos could drive on to meet him at bar.

Texts indicate they later had sex in Moreland's office.

Agents are also investigating Moreland's relationship with someone identified as Person 2, who is believed to be Leigh Terry.

Terry died last year and her death was the subject of a Metro Police Department investigation.

Questions about Moreland's actions in his court came to light during that investigation.

Police determined Terry committed suicide days after returning from a Gulf Coast trip with Moreland and two other attorneys.

A friend of Terry's told police about an earlier encounter with Moreland.

"She told me right then that she had sex with Casey Moreland in the chambers and that's what kept her out of jail," Roy Matlock told police.

The FBI's investigation is also likely to question Moreland's travel with friend and attorney Bryan Lewis.

They've vacationed in Costa Rica.

And in 2014 the two canceled a whitewater rafting trip to Idaho with other attorneys after NewsChannel 5 Investigates reported about the planned trip.

The Metro police investigation into Terry's death revealed that attorney Bryan Lewis flew Terry, Natalie Amos and one other woman on his private plane to the Gulf Coast last year.

They met Judge Moreland and stayed in the Dauphin Island Condo of Lewis' law partner Larry Hayes.

Bryan Lewis has stated that Moreland always paid his own way on all of their trips.

Watch the U.S. Attorney's news conference below:

Related stories and documents:
NC5 Investigates: Disorder in the Court