The dad of Nolan Wells’ self-described best friend has slammed the attorney representing the teen’s family for allegedly using the tragedy for political and financial gain.
Wells, 18, went missing during a Fourth of July boat trip to Horn Island, a barrier island 10 miles off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, before his body was found in the water there two days later.
Questions from Wells’ parents, Christine Wells and Elmore Wonsley, and online amateur sleuths have dogged the promising college football player’s pals about why they left him behind on that fateful day.
Now, the dad of Warren Hudson –– a 19-year-old who previously told The Post he considered Wells his best friend and was with him on the island the day he went missing –– is speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Post.
“In my opinion, truth is not Ben Crump’s concern. He’s exploiting the situation and raising money,” Ben Hudson, 56, an addiction medicine physician and father-of-six, said of the famed civil rights attorney representing Wells’ family.
“I think this is financially exploiting this entire tragedy and making it a much bigger tragedy at the expense of my family and our community and the Wells family.”
Hudson revealed that his family intends to sue Crump for defamation and slander over comments he has made since Wells’ death.
“In my opinion, Ben Crump has slandered and falsely accused my son and his friends of murder and he’s pursued what’s an obvious false narrative,” he said.
“I think he can expect lawsuits not just from my family but from a number of other families who, in my opinion, he’s defamed.”
Hudson also blasted the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is standing with Wells’ family as they carry out a private investigation into the teen’s death.
“Sharpton’s involvement is 100% correlated with the fact that we have midterm elections coming up,” Ben Hudson said.
Here’s the latest on the disappearance and death of Mississippi teen Nolan Wells:
“My family, the Wells-Wonsley family, and the families of all these other kids are being used by people like Al Sharpton and Ben Crump and news outlets as political pawns to win some kind of political favor for the midterms.”
Thousands of “credible” death threats and hate messages have been sent to Hudson’s family, he claimed, including what he says was a picture of the mother of his wife, Jackson County chancery court judge Ashlee Cole, with a comment saying “I hope you all die.”
“The amount of hate we’ve received is just disgusting,” he added.
Hudson said that on the day of Wells’ funeral, July 20, he, his wife and son Warren all received letters from a law firm also representing the dead youngster’s parents, warning them that litigation was “reasonably anticipated.”
The letter from Mississippi-based litigation attorney Gary Bufkin, obtained by The Post, warned them against “destruction or failure to preserve evidence.”
Wells’ funeral at Center Pointe Church in his hometown of Ocean Springs, MS, was officiated by the Rev. Sharpton — with friends who had been with him on Horn Island not in attendance.
Sharpton got loud cheers as he announced a reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case — which has since reached $125,000 with funding from NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens and filmmaker Tyler Perry. Ben Hudson has similarly offered a separate $50,000 reward.
Meanwhile, Crump led mourners in chants of “Justice for Nolan Wells” and “Nolan’s life matters”.
“I was very disappointed that they turned the funeral into a political rally,” Ben Hudson said.
“How would our children ever be able to attend that when they put out a $100,000 bounty alleging that my son and his friends had murdered their best friend?
“My son is 19, he’s trying to grieve the death of his friend. Meanwhile, he’s getting death threats and he’s called a racist and a murderer, and the truth couldn’t be further from that.”
Asked by The Post about Ben Hudson’s comments at a press conference held Thursday at the National Urban League’s annual conference in Nashville, TN, Crump said he was aware of Hudson’s intention to sue for defamation.
“It’s a distraction, we’re not distracted by it at all,” he said.
“It’s about getting to the truth, that’s what we want and that’s what we’re focused on.
“We haven’t done anything other than ask questions to get to the truth.”
The Rev. Sharpton denied turning Wells’ funeral into a political rally, putting a bounty on his friends’ head with the reward offered, or that National Action Network’s involvement had anything to do with the midterm elections.
“I don’t see how I turned the funeral into a political rally,” he said. “We never discussed politics.”
He also said the description of the reward offered as a “bounty” was “an overreach, at best” and that he didn’t even know Warren Hudson’s name until The Post reached out to him asking for comment.
“I’ve been very careful to say that we shouldn’t pre-judge it as racist, but they should not pre-judge it as not racist until the investigations are over,” he said.
“I don’t understand the connection with the midterm elections, that’s absurd –– one has nothing to do with the other.”
The Post also asked Gary Bufkin for comment but did not hear back before publication.
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