OCEAN SPRINGS, MS – City officials in Ocean Springs are refusing to release emails between former City Attorney Robert Wilkinson and city staff about the Securix ticketing program, citing attorney–client privilege — even as officials say there was no attorney-client relationship on the matter.
At the same time, Mississippi’s courts are keeping key records about the private ticketing company itself locked away, rejecting a media request to unseal files in the closely watched QJR v. Securix case.
City’s Privilege Claim vs. Wilkinson’s ‘Recusal’
In response to a recent public records request, the city clerk said emails between Wilkinson and city leaders on Securix are exempt from disclosure because they involve legal advice. But that explanation collides with years of public statements and even sworn letters to the Mississippi Bar.
Alderman Robert Blackman told the Bar that Wilkinson “recused himself and did not provide the City with legal advice relating to the Securix contract”.
Former Alderman Mike Impey wrote that Wilkinson “advised the Mayor and Board that he was representing Securix and had a conflict … [and] recused himself from involvement on behalf of the City with Securix, LLC.”
Former Mayor Kenny Holloway said he was “fully aware … that he was not providing the City legal advice as it related to Securix”.
And Wilkinson himself swore: “At all times I disclosed my representation to Securix and recused myself from providing legal advice to the City”.
These statements contradict the city clerk’s justification for denying public access to the internal emails regarding the Securix program. State law allows a narrow list of reasons emails can be shielded from residents. Inconvenient truth is not one of those reasons. If Wilkinson was not advising the city on matters pertaining to the Securix program, no attorney-client privilege exists.
Compounding Contradictions
Former Alderman Rickey Authement adds another wrinkle. He was the first official to publicly state that nobody on the board knew Wilkinson had a business relationship with Securix, saying he only learned about it years later from news reports. In February 2025, Authement made a formal motion to replace Wilkinson as city attorney, citing the undisclosed conflict.
But just two days after losing his re-election bid, Authement abruptly reversed course — sending a letter to the Bar defending Wilkinson and insisting he had recused from the start. Authement has refused to explain the flip-flop or answer whether he was telling the truth then or now. Both versions can’t be true.
Compounding the contradictions, Wilkinson told the Sun Herald in June that he had no business relationship with Securix founder Jonathon Miller until “six to ten months after Ocean Springs signed on” with the company. Yet he and city officials claimed he recused himself on day one. If Wilkinson really had no ties to Securix until much later, there would have been no reason to recuse at the outset.
GC Wire had acquired a draft version of a contract between Wilkinson and Securix dated months before the program was introduced to the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen. In an email to GC Wire, Wilkinson acknowledged its existence, saying he “was mentioned in that contract but did not sign” that draft. He went on to say, “The City was aware that I represented Securix and that I was doing work throughout the state and southeast for Securix.”
Wilkinson says the City entered into an agreement with outside counsel in regards to the Securix contract. “I advised the City that I was representing Securix and recommended the City secure outside counsel for legal advice on entering into a contract with Securix which the City did,” he wrote. That outside counsel was later revealed to be former Wilkinson law partner Amy St. Pe, but a public records request to the City revealed no business dealings with St. Pe and no work product ever received.
That leaves several conflicting stories: statements of an early recusal to the Bar, Wilkinson’s public denial of any early ties to Sun Herald, and internal emails showing he was active on both sides from the very beginning.
And the stakes were not abstract. According to former City Clerk Patty Gaston, the Securix traffic ticket program in Ocean Springs bypassed the municipal court system entirely — with private contractors handling citations outside the judicial oversight normally required by law. Residents were threatened with fines and license suspensions, but judges and clerks had no role in the process.
Courts Keep QJR File Closed
The secrecy extends beyond City Hall.
As first reported by the Sun Herald and Mississippi Today, a three-judge panel of the Mississippi Supreme Court — Justices Josiah Coleman, James Maxwell, and Robert Chamberlin — denied a motion to force Jackson County Chancery Judge Neil Harris to unseal the full case file in QJR v. Securix.
That lawsuit, filed in September 2024, seeks to dissolve Securix Mississippi LLC, the venture formed by Wilkinson and his Frontier Strategies partners Josh Gregory and Quinton Dickerson after Ocean Springs abandoned the program. Despite clear precedent requiring notice and a hearing before closing a file, Harris sealed the entire case the day it was filed, offering no explanation.
Harris later unsealed some pleadings after media outlets appealed but left an undisclosed number of exhibits sealed in a folder at the chancery clerk’s office, citing only “financial information.”
Media lawyers argue that’s not good enough. “Closing a record or court matter as the preference of the parties is never — repeat never — appropriate,” journalism professor Charlie Mitchell told the Sun Herald.
Silence from City Hall
The contradictions have carried into the present day. Bobby Cox, now mayor after previously serving as alderman-at-large during the Securix saga, has not responded to emails asking him to address the controversy.
Over the past year, GC Wire has emailed Cox multiple times with direct questions:
- Do you believe the allegations warrant an independent investigation by the city or another agency?
- What is your stance on the apparent conflicts of interest described in recent articles?
- Should contracts involving city officials or their affiliates face additional scrutiny to avoid similar situations?
Cox has not responded to the inquiries.
A Pattern of Secrecy and Contradictions
Together, the city’s privilege claim and the courts’ sealing orders reveal a pattern: critical information about how Securix operated in Mississippi — and how politically connected insiders profited — remains shielded from public view.
On one front, Ocean Springs is refusing to turn over Wilkinson’s emails, despite his public insistence — and the mayor, aldermen, and even Authement’s sworn letters — that he had stepped aside. On another, state courts are refusing to unseal records in a dispute that could reveal how Wilkinson, Gregory, and Dickerson structured their Securix partnership.
This secrecy matters because the Securix program was not a private venture. It partnered directly with local police departments to issue citations, generated revenue for cities, and even named the Mississippi Department of Public Safety as a beneficiary in several contracts. Former City Clerk Gaston has confirmed the city collected $468,681 while the program was running between 2022 and 2023 — money that, for reasons never explained, still sits untouched in city coffers.
Yet residents remain shut out from seeing the very records that could explain how the program worked, who profited, and why the money hasn’t been accounted for.
The deeper problem is the shifting story itself. To the Bar, Wilkinson and his allies said he recused from day one. To the press, Wilkinson said he had no business relationship until months later. Authement at one time said nobody knew, then suddenly claimed everyone did. And now, Ocean Springs insists those very emails are privileged because Wilkinson was their attorney all along.
The contradictions leave only one conclusion: the official story of Securix in Ocean Springs and other Mississippi communities is not just hidden — it has been rewritten again and again to fit the moment, while nearly half a million dollars tied to the program still sits unanswered for.
In July, the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen voted 5-2 to continue allowing Robert Wilkinson’s private firm to represent the City in various legal matters.
First, this was never a “Securix Ticketing Program.” It was and remains impossible for a private company to issue citations; the reality is not that but far worse than you indicate.
This was the city, its attorney and his son and partners violating contracts and the privacy of the people to illegally collect and keep their payments. They did that operating the system in Ocean Springs and later, for other agencies they involved other States and added tens of thousands of DPPA violations. Those add a potential $100 million in State and Federal fines and…Alex Wilkinson, always the Manager in Ocean Springs and later, provided the proof they did that.
Additionally, the role of a court should never be to penalize victims and enable criminals yet that is what has happened in Jackson County. There is a vast difference in sentencing innocent people without a shred of evidence to jail to keep them silent while ignoring the massive, serious crimes of those that are demonstrably crooks but politically-connected. It’s a two-tiered system.
Called the “Worst Example of Local Lawfare in Modern Times,” this brings embarrassment to the County for no valid reason as venue in Jackson County is baseless. Every document, reference and agreement regarding QJR, LLC and Securix Mississippi references Ridgeland in Madison County …not Jackson County. This was demonstrably the result of “venue shopping” so that the architect of this abuse…whose own documents confirm he is a criminal and has an office five minutes walking time away could influence the judge. From the “DA of the Year” in New York State to the former Chair of FTC, (and OMB) to several other well-known jurists and prosecutors and a leading Civil Rights advocate, they all agree that Wilkinson should be disbarred, that the judge should step down and that the Federal Government must take over for many reasons.
Robert Wilkinson, Josh Gregory and Quinton Dickerson have stolen at least $359,100. from the State; QJR does not deny this. They have diverted and/or stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars more and used that to pay themselves and among others, former Chief Dunston who got $48,000. for efforts with IntelliSafe.. a company created by Wilkinson. All this was from Securix Mississippi money and, many other such actions are just as inexcusable. They have continued business and these crimes deep into this year after DPS shut it down when we took the proof of crimes to them, (and Federal Authorities and to QJR, last August. A bank account that is locked-up with “Par Yachts and other LLCs owning still other LLCs’ controlling it” looks like bank fraud to us and the fact that the CPA firm paid to provide a real accounting was circumvented and instead a demonstrably fake accounting was provided to both a Federal and Chancery Court by Josh Gregory and Robert Wilkinson. That would probably result in jail time if unlike them …. us regular folks didn’t have “special relationships.”
We have documented over 200 other false statements by Wilkinson and his attorney. Erich Nichols there in Ocean Springs joined the QJR Members to give clear instructions to staff and contractors to violate the law and use DPS data in targeting. We believe we can prove mail fraud and are advised that prison for that could last 20 years and up to a million dollars in fines but we also have hard evidence provided by Alex Wilkinson who was always Manager during the period in Ocean Springs and at all times later, that over 20,000 DPPA violations happened which could mean over $100 million in State and Federal fines. The Harris-Gregory-Wilkinson rot goes very, very deep and must be investigated and at least for all the Securix Mississippi agencies, every dollar collected must be returned. Every citation was illegal.
The coverup in Chancery Court, including a judge demanding circumvention of the law and DPS, threats of jail time by Judge Harris for speaking further with Federal Authorities – who were already involved, or a failure to apologize to a criminal who stole our money and defamed others to divert attention and blame or, to pay for something that happened in a Federal Court because a fake accounting by QJR was provided …or bringing in Ocean Springs to a case involving companies that did not even exist during that period, violations of basic rights concerning 1st and 8th Amendment rights, judicial procedure common in all fifty States and much, much more should be investigated. The depth of judicial misconduct and coverup for criminals can only be handled at Federal Level in our opinion as the existing system can’t be trusted. It has entirely failed the People of Jackson County and brought it undeserved shame.
Go to the website created and controlled by QJR called: securix-ms.com and see their claims of operations in other states which is in violation of the license agreement and clearly, theft. Go to https://www.dropbox.com/s/x7bc1bjl0j89kmv/Chief%20Paul%20Cell%20PSA%202.mp4?dl=0 to see how a REAL Securix System operates as explained to law enforcement so you can better understand what they, the City of Ocean Springs and based on their own records these criminals… Robert and Alex Wilkinson, Josh Gregory and his Wife Jennifer, (also an associate of Wilkinson), Mark Dunston, and others have done to you.
All files and most especially the transcripts of hearing must be made available to the public. Next week we will have initiated a site called “oceanspringscommunity.com” and hope you will visit. These criminals were allowed to steal, lie, cheat and destroy our company. Securix is as ten year old company that never had legal issues and was valued at $31.7 million prior to knowing Wilkinson. It is now closed with all operations nationally shut down due to what has happened and we will at least…do again what we did before when we went to DPS with the proof of QJR crimes… we will rise up and protect the People. We will ensure that you have full access to the truth as clearly, you have elected officials unwilling to honor their oaths of office, along with their politically-connected friends unwilling to do that.
Godspeed!