A North Carolina state judge is charged with trying to bribe an FBI agent. Federal prosecutors announced the charges Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Arnold Jones II is charged with trying to bribe an FBI agent to collect text messages between two phone numbers in what the judge said was a family matter.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced the charges against Jones, who hears cases in three rural eastern North Carolina counties.
It's illegal for law officers to demand text or phone information from a phone company without an approved search warrant in an active case.
Prosecutors say Jones approached the unnamed FBI officer a month ago and the two met in Goldsboro on Tuesday to exchange $100 for a disk supposedly containing the data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.