Longtime mayor of Miss. town, William Grady Sims, accused of sexually assaulting an inmate

(CBS/AP) JACKSON, Miss. - The longtime mayor of a small Mississippi town has been accused of sexually assaulting an inmate and trying to cover it up during his time as a jail warden.

William Grady Sims, the mayor of Walnut Grove, was indicted on two federal charges last week. U.S. Attorney John Dowdy and Daniel McMullen, the top FBI agent in Mississippi, announced Sims' indictment Tuesday in a news release. 

After appearing in a Jackson court Tuesday, Sims was released on a $10,000 bond. A trial date was set for Jan. 9.

The indictment alleges the mayor assaulted the inmate in November 2009 at the Walnut Grove Transition Center. He's also charged with telling the inmate to lie to investigators in March 2010.

Court records only identified the inmate by initials and did not say whether the prisoner was male or female. Although the Walnut Grove Transition Center is privately run, it houses both men and women in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

State Auditor Stacey Pickering announced Tuesday that Sims has been ordered to pay $31,530 for using city employees and equipment to work on private prisons in the area, including the one he ran.

Sims was first elected in 1981 and is in his eighth term.

Walnut Grove has a population of about 1,900. It is in the center of the state, about 65 miles northeast of Jackson.