Restaurant confab leads to arrest of 3 accused of planning to kidnap and rob judge
A concerned citizen who called authorities after overheaing a conversation at a Tupelo, Mississippi, restaurant sparked the arrest of three suspects in a claimed plot to rob and kidnap a state-court judge.
Further investigation including a review of surveillance footage at the restaurant confirmed the tip that the trio planned to target Circuit Court Judge Paul Funderburk at his home, said Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson. Mathew Fowler, 27, William Chance Randolph, 22, and Thomas Andrew Waddell, 24, were charged with multiple conspiracy counts and are being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.
The Associated Press, the Daily Journal, the Lee County Courier and WTVA have stories.
It is unclear why the three allegedly targeted Funderburk: It does not appear that the men had a case before the judge or any other known connection, according to the sheriff.
