Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi news release
A Meridian man was sentenced to 14 years in prison after having been convicted at trial of attempted witness tampering. Daniel Robert, age 46 of Meridian, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Jackson.
In June 2018, Robert was arrested on an outstanding warrant in a narcotics trafficking case that spanned multiple states from 2007 through 2009. Robert eluded capture from 2009 until June 2018.
After his capture in 2018, Robert made numerous phone calls to several family members directing them, along with other unidentified individuals, to contact witnesses who were expected to testify against him and to tell the witnesses not to appear for trial by avoiding subpoenas or testify that they could not remember facts of the case, or to simply refuse to testify. Robert’s instructions included specific directions concerning the writing of a false affidavit he intended, and directed, to be signed by one of the witnesses.
In January 2020, Robert was convicted of narcotics trafficking charges following a three-day trial. Robert is currently serving a sentence of 330 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for those narcotics trafficking convictions. Nine years of the witness tampering sentence will run concurrent with the current sentence of 330 months and five years of the witness tampering sentence will run consecutive to the 330 month sentence. Robert’s witness tampering resulted in an additional five years to serve in prison.
