Craig Pouncey Indicted on Felony Ethics Charges in Alabama

Craig Pouncey, the former president of Coastal Alabama Community College and former Jefferson County Schools superintendent, was indicted in late December 2025 on three felony counts of using his office for personal gain under the Alabama Ethics Act. A Baldwin County grand jury returned the indictment after a referral from the Alabama Ethics Commission, and the charges center on allegations that Pouncey took concrete blocks from a college campus for use on his personal waterfront property.¹

The Charges and Booking

Warren Craig Pouncey, 67, was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Center on December 30, 2025, on three counts of using his office for personal gain. He was released the same day after posting a $30,000 bond, set at $10,000 per count.¹

Early jail records listed 15 charges and a $150,000 bond, and several outlets initially reported those figures. The booking entry was later corrected to reflect the three-count indictment.² The charges relate exclusively to Pouncey’s tenure at Coastal Alabama Community College, not to any of his prior positions in Alabama education.³

What He Is Accused of Doing

The indictment accuses Pouncey of using a school office for personal gain and taking property from Coastal Alabama Community College.⁴ Pouncey has publicly acknowledged the underlying conduct: during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, he removed concrete blocks from the CACC Atmore campus and used them as a base for riprap on his personal waterfront property.⁵

Pouncey has defended his actions. He described the concrete as “pitted and useless” construction debris that a contractor had discarded during a campus renovation, and said the college needed the area cleared for a landscaper. Hauling the blocks away himself, he said, saved the school from paying for a dumpster and landfill disposal. He called the material “junk” and said he does not know whether the Ethics Commission assigned a monetary value to it. He has also alleged that the Ethics Commission did not interview the college’s job superintendent or the contractor on the renovation project before making its referral.⁵

How the Case Reached a Grand Jury

The Alabama Ethics Commission investigated Pouncey under Case No. 2024-0408. At its April 2, 2025 meeting, the commission voted 3-0 that there was “cause to hold that Dr. Warren Pouncey has violated the Alabama Ethics Act,” and it referred the matter to the district attorney of the appropriate judicial circuit.⁶ The Baldwin County District Attorney’s office then presented the case to a grand jury, which returned the three-count indictment in December.²

Pouncey has said the underlying ethics complaint was filed by a former CACC employee who was later dismissed from the college.⁵

Who Craig Pouncey Is

Pouncey spent more than 38 years in Alabama’s education system.⁷ He began as a fourth-grade teacher, later became superintendent of Crenshaw County Schools, and spent nearly a decade at the Alabama State Department of Education, ending as chief of staff to State Superintendent Tommy Bice at an annual salary of $168,000.⁸

The Jefferson County School Board voted 4-1 to hire him as superintendent in June 2014.⁹⁷¹⁰¹¹

The 2016 Dissertation Dispute

The current charges are separate from an earlier ethics controversy that involved Pouncey. In July 2016, while he was a finalist for state superintendent, anonymous packages sent to State Board of Education members alleged that Alabama Department of Education employees had helped write his 2009 doctoral dissertation at Samford University. Pouncey denied the accusations, saying he wrote every word himself and that two department employees provided only voluntary typing and copy-editing on their own time. He was cleared of the plagiarism and ethics allegations, and an internal investigation concluded that a group of education officials had coordinated to block him from the position.¹²¹³

Pouncey filed a defamation lawsuit in 2017 against former state board member Mary Scott Hunter and several department officials.¹⁴ The suit against Hunter settled out of court in November 2020 for $100,000, with no admission of liability by Hunter. The state reportedly spent more than $1 million defending the litigation.¹⁵

Where the Case Stands Now

Pouncey has been indicted and released on bond. No arraignment, plea, trial date, or further court proceedings have been publicly reported. Current CACC president Dr. Aaron Milner said the college could not comment on the case and deferred inquiries to the Alabama Community College System.⁴

1
Lagniappe Mobile. Former Coastal Alabama President Arrested
2
AL.com. Former Jefferson County Superintendent, Junior College President Arrested
3
CBS42. Former Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Craig Pouncey Arrested on Ethics Charges
4
WKRG. Warren Pouncey Felony Charges
5
Lagniappe Mobile. Ex-Coastal Alabama President Faces Alleged Ethics Violation
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Alabama Ethics Commission. Minutes of the April 2, 2025 Meeting
7
Alabama Community College System. Chancellor Announces Dr. Craig Pouncey as President of Coastal Alabama Community College
8
AL.com. Dr. Craig Pouncey Hired as New JefCo Schools Superintendent
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WBRC. Dr. Craig Pouncey Hired as New JefCo Schools Superintendent
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Alabama Reflector. Community College Board of Trustees Approves New Coastal Alabama Community College President
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Coastal Alabama Community College. ACCS Board of Trustees Approves Dr. Aaron Milner as President of Coastal Alabama Community College
12
Montgomery Advertiser. Anonymous Complaint Targeted Superintendent Candidate
13
Alabama Political Reporter. State Settles Craig Pouncey Defamation Suit Against Mary Scott Hunter
14
AL.com. Pouncey Sues State Educators
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AL.com. Alabama State School Board Settles Former JefCo Superintendent’s Defamation Lawsuit for $100,000