MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. was placed on administrative leave without pay from his job with Library Services, a Memphis city official said Tuesday.

Ford is facing a federal indictment over alleged kickbacks and attempted tax evasion, and has pleaded not guilty. He was taken into federal custody after turning himself in Friday morning; he is out on a $25,000 bond before a March 6 court appearance.

A city salary database shows that Ford Jr. was the Senior Financial Literacy Coordinator for the Library Services division. His salary is $82,766.32.

Ford Jr. is accused of using his public office to secure grant funds for three undisclosed non-profits and then “corruptly” receiving financial payments from those same three organizations. 

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris requested Monday to pause Ford Jr.’s grant making during his federal prosecution.

Harris said Tuesday that, while he isn’t calling for the end of the county’s grant program, he had some serious concerns with it.

“I’m not in favor of these kinds of ‘slush funds,’ that one individual elected official can dole out at their discretion, because sometimes these things can become corrupted,” Harris said.

Harris described his own working relationship with Ford Jr. as “prickly.”

“Obviously he’s not a friend of mine, but I don’t think he has many friends,” Harris said.

The government says the investigation dates back to 2017 when Ford Jr. served on the Memphis City Council and, eventually, the Shelby County Commission. When he served as the budget chair, he was on a three-person panel that would review applications and determine which non-profit organizations would receive grant funds, the indictment says.

Federal agents say executives with three organizations, UCan of Memphis, Primetime Parenting and Memphis Women Aiming High, approved for funding used that same money to pay Ford Jr. for computers from his business – E and J Computer Services and Repair.

Agents said he even had the non-profits disguise their payments.

WREG has reached out to all of the organizations reportedly involved in the scheme. We have not heard back.