Judge convicted of trying to bribe a federal agent with two cases of Bud Light

Bud Light
(Image credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

A North Carolina judge named Arnold O. Jones II was convicted Friday on three felony charges for attempting to bribe a federal agent with two cases of Bud Light beer. The jurors on the case deliberated for less than an hour before reaching a verdict.

Jones wanted the agent, Matthew Miller, to get him copies of text messages exchanged between his wife and another man. Miller, a local sheriff's deputy who is also on an FBI task force, could not legally obtain such records without a warrant from a federal magistrate judge, but Jones — who, again, is himself a judge — said Miller never told him a warrant was necessary.

Miller and Jones reportedly met to discuss the logistics of Jones' request, during which the judge offered the deputy "a couple of cases of beer" for his help. The beer payment was later replaced by $100 in cash, which would buy about five cases of Bud Light.

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Despite his conviction, Jones is actively running for reelection to his judgeship in November.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.