Another Shelby County commissioner is facing criminal charges this week. This time, newly-elected Commissioner Will Richardson II is facing tax fraud allegations.
And a slate of medical examiner's reports shed additional light on some Memphis Safe Task Force-involved shootings.
Plus the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has new allegations against President Donald Trump's task force and its use of Tennessee's Halo Law.
Here's what else was on the docket for the week of Sept. 7, 2026.
Shelby County commissioner indicted for tax fraud
Richardson has been arrested on tax falsification charges, court records show, with the arrest coming the week after he was sworn in.
Richardson was indicted on two counts of falsifying state revenue tax records, a Class E felony. His indictment, obtained by
The Commercial Appeal, alleges he submitted falsified tax returns and withheld sales tax revenue from the state for nearly four years.
A warrant for Richardson's arrest was issued on Sept. 8 and he was arrested on Sept. 9, records show. His bail was set at $40,000, which he has since posted.
Memphis police made the arrest, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.
According to the indictment, Richardson falsified tax records between Dec. 31, 2020 and Sept. 1, 2024 for Fat Charlie's Speakeasy, a bar located in Harbor Town.
Richardson, a self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur," was sworn in as a commissioner on Aug. 31 and attended his first round of committee meetings the day of his arrest, on Sept. 9. He is the second actively-serving commissioner to be charged with a crime since the Aug. 6 general election.
Autopsies detail Memphis Safe Task Force-involved deaths
Autopsy reports for two men killed after interactions with the Memphis Safe Task Force showed one man was shot in the neck and the other was shot at least five times.
Jonah Neal and Alfonzo Ivy were killed within weeks of one another. Neal was shot by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent on May 20 and Ivy was shot by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent on July 8.
Neal was 25 at the time of his death and Ivy was 47.
Both deaths remain under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The autopsies are the third released by the medical examiner. In total, at least four people have been killed by members of the Task Force.
Darrin Pigram, 41, was killed while working his job at a local Burger King on May 13 by a DEA agent. Tyrin Johnson, 20, was killed on July 5 by National Guard members during a foot chase, according to law enforcement.
The Shelby County District Attorney's Office declined to charge the DEA agent who shot Pigram, releasing surveillance camera footage in July as part of its declination announcement.
A decision has not yet been made as to whether members of the National Guard could face charges for killing Johnson. The two National Guard members involved in the shooting were too young to be Memphis police officers, The Commercial Appeal reported, and an autopsy revealed Johnson had been shot in the back.
Top Commercial Appeal courts, public safety stories readers have viewed
- From Sept. 10, 2026: Here's what Shelby County Commissioner Will Richardson's indictment said
- From Sept. 8, 2026: Autopsy reports detail two Memphis Safe Task Force-involved deaths
- From Sept. 1, 2026: Memphis touts fewest crimes since 2010. Take a look at the data
- From Sept. 9, 2026: Newly-elected Shelby County commissioner arrested for falsifying taxes
- From Sept. 2, 2026: FBI talks about future Memphis operations amid decline in crime
Latest in Memphis' biggest cases
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee is ramping up its efforts to restrict the Memphis Safe Task Force's use of Tennessee's Halo Law, which, when invoked, requires onlookers to be 25 feet away from law enforcement.
In May, the ACLU filed a lawsuit alleging the Task Force used the Halo Law inconsistently to push bystanders out of viewing range of its public law enforcement activities. It also alleged members of the Task Force have attempted to intimidate onlookers by filming them, their license plates, conducting frivolous traffic stops, following them, and surveilling one activist's home.
On Sept. 8, the ACLU filed more declarations alleging the task force was pushing the media away from its activities and ramping up its intimidation efforts.
"On two occasions over five days, task force agents have appeared outside Mr. [Hunter] Demster's home and photographed or filmed him and his home," the ACLU said in a press release. "Mr. Demster was also pinned down and arrested after task force agents abused the Halo Law to continue to push him back and obstruct his view of a scene while recording. The Halo Law criminalizes approaching within 25 feet of an officer after receiving an order to stop approaching or to retreat. Agents used the law as a moving wall, repeatedly issuing new stop-approaching orders as they walked toward Mr. Demster, so that standing still counted as a violation."
The ACLU is slated to argue a motion for a preliminary injunction on Sept. 23 and recently filed new case law about a similar law's usage in another state.
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Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby Co. leader sees tax fraud charges; Autopsies detail Task Force deaths
