The leader of the communications firm that released Thursday's video of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson's apology to Michael Brown's parents and Ferguson protestors has been convicted of reckless homicide and may have stocked his Twitter account with thousands of fake accounts.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the founder of Devin James Group, Devin James, was supposedly checked by Ferguson officials but conflicting reports show that only certain public agencies knew of his past.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said he knew of James' background, but a spokeswoman from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, who also pays the Devin James Group for his services, said she was not aware of the man's history and that the group would no longer use him for their public communications.

"We have asked Elasticity, our contracted communications firm, to release Devin James from his subcontractor role, due to a lack of transparency," a statement from the Economic Development Partnership said. "While we admire his personal growth from difficult circumstances and commend him for his high quality work in Ferguson, it was the lack of information about his background that prompted us to make this move."

James defended himself, saying many people knew about his past upon hiring him.

The reckless homicide charge stemmed from an incident in 2006 in Tennessee where James was convicted of shooting and killing a man, Rodney Stewart. James claimed the violent act was in self-defense, but police said in court that there was no evidence Stewart had been armed.

Beyond who knew of his record, the Dispatch also reported that 25,000 of James' 27,000 Twitter followers are spam accounts. While James denied that he had bolstered his online following with fraudulent accounts, these 25,000 were reportedly all added in September. Additionally, Slate reported that upon closer look at these "followers'" accounts, they do appear to be fakes.

On the Devin James Group website, James claims to employ 37 people in the company. However, when the Dispatch reached out to one listed employee, he said he hadn't worked for James in two years while James says he is "making a lot of updates" to the site.