There’s no need to write a whole lot on this article. Just this right here. Watch the video. It will explain everything. 

June 20, 2022. Oxford, Mississippi.

By Matthew Reardon – Investigative Journalist

It Started as a Routine Audit and a need to make a public records request. It Ended in Prison.

I walked into Oxford City Hall with a camera in hand and a simple mission—document government officials in a public building and request records from the City Clerk. It was a standard First Amendment audit, something I had been doing all month to expose corruption and promote transparency.

I never expected that within months, I would be sitting in a Mississippi prison, stripped of my freedom, betrayed by the justice system, and silenced by the very government I sought to hold accountable.

I was about to step into a nightmare—one that would prove just how far officials would go to destroy a journalist who dared to challenge their power.

The Trap is Set: An Old Restraining Order Resurfaces

As I filmed inside City Hall, Oxford Police Lieutenant Kevin Parker confronted me.

“You’re detained. You have to leave,” he ordered.

His reasoning? Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill had a restraining order against me from 2017. A restraining order taken out just two weeks prior to Election Day in 2017 for claims that can now be 100% debunked and shown to be completely false. But that’s not a story for this article.

There was just one problem—I had never seen, spoken to, or contacted Mayor Tannehill that day. In fact, I wasn’t even aware the order still existed, let alone that it could be used to ban a citizen journalist from City Hall. Particularly when one of the big reasons I was here was to make a public records request with the city clerk.

Then came Captain Lyons. He doubled down:

“If you come back, you’ll be arrested for trespassing and violating the restraining order.”

I had two choices: leave quietly or get locked up. So, I left. But I wasn’t done.

A Felony Charge for Filming City Hall?

Eight days later, on June 28, 2022, I walked into Lafayette County Chancery Court for a child custody hearing.

Before I could enter, I was met by Major Alan Wilburn of the sheriff’s department.

“You can’t bring recording devices in,” he said. Then, without missing a beat, he pulled out an arrest warrant.

Charge: Aggravated Stalking.

I was stunned.

For what?

The charge, I quickly learned, stemmed from my City Hall visit eight days earlier. But that wasn’t all. Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen had sent the case to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), claiming that a handful of tweets I posted a year earlier criticizing Tannehill’s policies constituted a “course of conduct” that amounted to stalking.

That’s right—they weaponized my tweets and a 5-10 minute video inside City Hall to put me in a jail cell.

A Legal Circus: No Bail, No Defense, No Justice

A $10,000 bond was set by Judge Kent Smith, but Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Kilpatrick wasn’t satisfied. She moved to have my bond revoked. This was a particularly difficult time as I had a 4-month-old son in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at LeBonheur Hospital in Memphis, TN, and had three other children at home.

At the hearing, Judge Smith played his part in this kangaroo court.

“You’re being held without bond pending a mental health exam,” he ruled.

Wait. What?

Suddenly, I wasn’t just a journalist facing a bogus felony—I was being labeled mentally unstable to justify keeping me behind bars.

The Public Defender Who Wasn’t on My Side

I was assigned public defender Mitchell Driskill. But without warning, he was mysteriously replaced by another attorney—Mark McClinton from New Albany.

There was no official court filing authorizing the change. And soon, I discovered why.

McClinton wasn’t on my side.

• He was impossible to reach.

• He delayed my mental health exam for two months.

• When the exam was finally conducted, it found nothing wrong with me.

But none of that mattered. Because on September 29, 2022, the day before my competency hearing, McClinton called me with a bombshell.

“The case is falling apart. They never had anything on you. Tomorrow, the charge will be dropped.”

I could hardly believe it. Finally, justice.

But he lied.

The Betrayal: Coerced Into a Guilty Plea

The next day in court, McClinton ambushed me.

“Take this guilty plea, or you’ll go to prison,” he whispered.

I was floored.

“What? You told me the case was dead!”

“If you go to trial, the jury will be tainted and fixed. They’ll use the charge against you, and you’ll go to prison. If you take this deal, you go home today.”

The “deal” was a death sentence for my rights:

• Five years probation

• Banishment from Lafayette County for five years

• A promise that the charge would be expunged later

With a family crisis weighing on me, I was cornered.

I took the deal. I walked out of jail. But the moment I did, I knew I had made a mistake. I immediately stated I wanted to withdraw that bogus plea. I had to, there was no other way. When McClinton wouldn’t answer my calls, I filed my own motion October 31, 2022 so as to be prompt and at 30 days.

Retaliation: The FBI Call That Sent Me to Prison

Three days before I filed to withdraw my plea, I witnessed a case of police corruption in a neighboring city and called the Oxford FBI field office.

I was told to bring the evidence in. To follow the rules, I even called the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office to report my planned visit—to comply with my probation terms.

But the very next day—November 1, 2022—Assistant DA Tiffany Kilpatrick filed a motion to revoke my sentence. That night, Sheriff’s Deputy Hoby James arrested me.

The Final Blow: A Show Trial Without Evidence

At the revocation hearing on November 3rd, I was blindsided.

• I wasn’t told what I was being revoked for until I was in the courtroom.
• I had no lawyer. I wasn’t allowed to present evidence proving my innocence. Sheriff’s Deputy Kandis Beavers falsely testified that I had driven to the FBI office without an appointment. I tried to speak—
• “I have recorded calls proving the FBI told me to come in!”
• Judge Tollison didn’t care. He refused to hear my evidence. After a short deliberation, he sentenced me to one year in prison. For what? For obeying the law. Let’s call this what it is:
• A coordinated effort to remove a government critic.
• A rigged legal system that manufactures charges.
• A court that suppresses evidence and denies basic rights.
• I was framed, coerced, and silenced. And if they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone. The question now isn’t just how this happened.
• It’s who’s next?

Here is the evidence they did not want to hit the surface:

CALL TO BEAVERS ABOUT GETTING STOOD UP AT FBI AND NEEDING TO GO TO US ATTORNEYS OFFICE

Galveston, TX – August 11, 2023

Upon making contact with him through conducting a traffic stop, Galveston police officers stated that they smelled the odor of alcohol coming from Reardon’s car. Reardon stated to the police that he had not consumed a drop of alcohol over the last 3 to 4 years’ time when asked to step out of the vehicle and conduct a field sobriety test. He stated that the field sobriety test has been notorious for being rigged and proceeded to demand a breathalyzer test be administered to prove that he had not consumed any alcoholic beverages. Reardon, a First Amendment Auditor and constitutional rights activist, was recording this encounter along with two friends adjacent to the stop. Galveston police insist on the field sobriety test, which Reardon refuses, demands an attorney, and again demands a breathalyzer test be administered.

Reardon is then placed under arrest for suspicion of DWI, loaded into the back of a truck, and brought to the hospital for a blood test to be administered. The department refused to administer a breathalyzer as demanded, despite the probable cause remaining that the odor of alcohol was the motivating force. The officers proceeded to a blood draw, claiming that a warrant was being applied for to obtain the blood sample. Without being shown any warrant, Reardon is forcibly held down by nearly 10 officers while handcuffed behind his back and then stuck with a needle multiple times in his right arm.

After all of this Reardon is brought to the Galveston County jail. While in booking, Reardon hears the arresting officer on a phone call with deputy Kandi Beavers with the Lafayette County Mississippi sheriff’s department where she allegedly conspires with the officer to book Reardon for felony DUI third, despite a highly controversial DUI from February 2021 involving Deputy Beavers. Reardon insists the particular 2021 DUI is currently on appeal after crucial evidence proving Reardon’s innocence on that particular DUI came up missing at his November, 2021 trial. Reardon has also strongly asserted that Deputy Beavers committed perjury by lying on stand and under oath in order to send Reardon off to prison for one year in 2022, a claim he says should not only Brady-List Beavers and terminate her employment as a law enforcement officer, but also criminally indict her based upon credible evidence that has been brought forth and asserted. Reardon claims that this attempt to jail him in Galveston, Texas for felony DUI, based upon false allegations made is an outrageous attempt to re-imprison him through using Galveston, TX to do Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department’s bidding. Particularly that of Deputy Kandi Beavers based upon the serious allegations Reardon has brought to the surface about the Deputy’s knowingly false, retaliatory claims made. A video detailing out these claims on Beavers can be viewed here

Watch the video above of the controversial DWI Arrest on 8/11/2023. Reardon anxiously awaits clearing his name by additional Discovery to come in this matter.

Subscribe to Matthew Reardon’s YouTube channel Lafayette County Audit by going to https://www.YouTube.com/@lafayettecountyaudit.

Cashapp donations to assist with all legal expenses are being accepted at https://cash.app/$1Aaudit and are much appreciated!

This is currently developing story, so please continue checking back for more updates.