U.S. Dept of Justice
Friday, April 20, 2012
Letten's office to recuse itself from any River Birch matter
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 5:24 PM
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office has announced that it will recuse itself, at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, from all matters pertaining to the River Birch landfill company — including the case against Henry Mouton, the former state wildlife commissioner who last year pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for publicly disparaging two other landfills — as well as unrelated cases against River Birch CFO Dominick Fazzio and Mark Titus, Fazzio's brother-in-law.
Letten's office would not confirm the reason for the recusal. However, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone — who worked on the Fazzio case — recently admitted to posting negative comments about River Birch owner Fred Heebe and Fazzio on Nola.com, using the handle Henry L Mencken1951.
On March 12, Heebe filed a defamation suit against "Mencken," prompting Perricone's admission and, later, resignation. The suit, originally filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, has been removed to U.S. District Court.
Read Letten's press release on the recusals:
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - Today, Jim Letten, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, made the following statement upon receiving confirmation by the United States Department of Justice of the recusal of the United States Attorney’s Office from handling certain matters:“Following consultation with the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana determined that it would be appropriate to request recusal in any matters involving River Birch, and also in the cases involving U.S. v. Titus, U.S. v. Mouton, and U.S. v. Fazzio. Recusal is a time-tested practice to avoid even the appearance or allegation of a conflict of interest in the investigation and prosecution of cases and in this case is not an indication of any impropriety or misconduct on the part of the United States Attorney’s Office.”
These matters will continue to be handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Legal action will be handled by the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice has allowed Assistant United States Attorney Greg Kennedy to continue to be assigned to the matter under the supervision of the Public Integrity Section (PIN). AUSA Kennedy will report directly and only to PIN for purposes of these cases."
Because the office has now been recused, we will have no further comment on this matter.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sal Perricone resigns from the U.S. Attorney's office
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Sal Perricone, the assistant U.S. Attorney whose online comments severely embarrassed the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, handed in his resignation last night, according to a brief press release sent out this morning by Letten's office. The resignation, Letten points out, does not end the investigation into his online activities that was requested by Letten's office.
Perricone, under the handle "Henry L. Mencken1951," posted hundreds of comments on nola.com, the online arm of Advance Publications, which publishes The Times-Picayune. For more on the case, read Clancy DuBos' most recent column, "The Sudden Dubiety of His Redoubt."
The press release from the U.S. Attorney's office is under the jump.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Assistant U.S. Attorney is Nola.com commenter 'Henry L. Mencken 1951'
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 4:01 PM
US Attorney Jim Letten today confirmed that one of his office's employees — Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone — has been commenting on The Times-Picayune's Nola.com using the handle "Henry L. Mencken 1951."
"On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 following press accounts of a legal filing in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, Assistant United States Attorney Salvador Perricone acknowledged for the first time that he has in fact been the sole user of the Nola.com identifier Henry L. Mencken 1951," Letten said, reading from a prepared statement.
Letten said he confronted Perricone after it was reported that River Birch landfill owner Fred Heebe filed a defamation suit against Perricone. Heebe hired a forensic linguist to analyze the comments. The linguist determined that Perricone was likely "Mencken," a prolific commenter who frequently used the site to weigh in on stories about investigations and prosecutions his own office was involved in.
Perricone has been recused from all cases upon which he commented, Letten said. However, as reported by the T-P, he was present this morning at a hearing in the federal fraud case against River Birch executive Dominic Fazzio.
(Continued after the jump)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Press release: NOPD detective indicted for conspiracy and theft of federal funds
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 5:22 PM
Fourth District Detective Tiwanda Alexander is charged with taking $3,600 from nonprofit housing assistance group the House of Ruth — which receives funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — between 2007 and 2008, according to the federal indictment. Alexander was not homeless and was making more than $40,000 per year in salary. Alexander faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Read the full indictment: Alexander__Tiwana_ind.pdf
The press release from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten:
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -TIWANA ALEXANDER, age 37, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, and a detective employed by the New Orleans Police Department in the Fourth District, was charged by a federal grand jury today in a two-count indictment charging her with conspiracy and theft of federal funds, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.According to the indictment, from March 2007 through July 2008, ALEXANDER conspired with a former case manager who worked for the House of Ruth, a non-profit organization receiving federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), to steal approximately $3,600. One of the primary missions of the House of Ruth is to provide short-term rental and other basic assistance to homeless individuals and families. The indictment alleges that from May 2007 through July 2008, ALEXANDER, who was not homeless or jobless at the time and earned an income exceeding $40,000, knew she did not qualify for House of Ruth assistance. Nevertheless, ALEXANDER conspired with the former House of Ruth case manager to steal money from the House of Ruth. The indictment alleges that she used two checks to pay her rent: one in July of 2007 and one in August of 2007. On three occasions in November 2007, December 2007, and January 2008 she deposited House of Ruth checks each in the amount of $900 into her own personal checking account.
If convicted, ALEXANDER faces a maximum term of imprisonment of ten (10) years, a $250,0000 fine, restitution to the House of Ruth, and three (3) years of supervised release following imprisonment.
U. S. Attorney Letten reiterated that the indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Sharan E. Lieberman.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Broussard, Wilkinson plead not guilty
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 12:53 PM
Former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard and former parish attorney Tom Wilkinson pleaded not guilty to 38 counts — in theory carrying maximum sentences totaling 695 years each if convicted for all of them — of conspiracy , wire fraud and theft of programs receiving federal funds today in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy.
According to the indictment, Broussard and Wilkinson in late 2003 improperly hired Broussard's then-girlfriend, now-ex-wife Karen Parker as paralegal supervisor for the parish attorney's office, despite the fact that Parker was unqualified for the position and was actually working in ID management for parish employees.
Read the indictment here: Broussard__Aaron___Wilkinson__Thomas_sind.pdf
Between 2003 and 2010, the government charges, Broussard increased Wilkinson's salary from $100,000 to $184,000 and in return, Wilkinson kept Parker on his staff, gradually increasing her salary from $48,000 to $64,000.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Consent decree news: NOPD seeks contractor to perform survey of citizen, cop, detainee concerns
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 11:03 AM
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as we all well know by now, is set to oversee the operations of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) under a federal consent decree. The NOPD has been working out the details of the agreement with DOJ for a while now, quietly, and there's not a whole lot we know yet.
We have learned the following in the past month, though: NOPD has contracted a liaison, Daniel Cazenave, to work as a go-between during (and presumably after) implementation of the decree; police are now in the midst of forming community advisory boards for each district, a DOJ recommendation; and we've known for a while that whatever agreement comes out, NOPD will probably address, in one way or another, the problems identified in last year's highly critical federal investigation.
One of the recommendations in that report was that police "Develop and implement mechanisms, such as recurring community surveys, to assess recent experiences and current attitudes about NOPD among all communities throughout the City, and changes in these experiences and attitudes over time." The report noted, optimistically, that NOPD was in the process of seeking funding and preparing a request for proposals (RFP) to do just that.
Last week, that RFP was finally released. According to the document, now posted on the city's web site, the survey will measure concerns about the department, not only among residents or NOPD employees, but also "detained arrestees" and the local and federal employees involved in the consent decree negotiations themselves. The ultimate goal, reads the document, will be to "create a set of baseline measures against which the outcomes of the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s collaboration with NOPD can be assessed over the next several years." The survey, then, will form the NOPD's measure of progress under DOJ oversight.
(Read the full description after the jump)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Press release: Former state DEQ scientist gets three years for child pornography charges
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 4:23 PM
This just in from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office: Michael T. Drury, who, according to this 2009 Times-Picayune story, was "an environmental scientist who has been monitoring the work of demolition and construction contractors involved in asbestos-removal projects in New Orleans," for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality was sentenced to three years in prison today for federal child pornography charges. Drury pleaded guilty in August.
The press release:
NEW ORLEANS MAN SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS
IN PRISON FOR CRIMES INVOLVING THE
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDRENNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - MICHAEL T. DRURY, age 55, a resident of New Orleans, was sentenced today by U. S. Judge Martin L.C. Feldman to a term of thirty-six (36) months in prison, followed by a ten (10) year period of supervised release, and a $5,000 fine, after previously pleading guilty to felony crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced United States Attorney Jim Letten.
(Continued after the jump)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Bennett takes deal, pleads guilty to bribery in federal court
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 11:52 AM
- U.S. Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)
- Greed and Graft will have their way with Lady Law! What will you do to stop them?
Aaron Bennett, the New Orleans businessman who's become famous for his caution and discretion in the face of lots of recent attention paid to his business, Benetech, by the U.S. Justice Department, today pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a public corruption case against former Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle.
Federal prosecutors presented a plea agreement signed by Bennett, who faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Bennett's guilty plea came today during a re-arraignment hearing, following his original not guilty plea yesterday. According to this story in The Times Picayune, Bennett was required to plead guilty in arraignment. He had already filed for a change of plea hearing and had presumably already agreed to a deal with prosecutors.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Hingle faces federal corruption charges
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Irvin "Jiff" Hingle, who resigned today, will face charges for accepting bribes and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office. According to the Bill of Information (Note: not a grand jury indictment and often an indication that a suspect is cooperating with investigators) Hingle accepted two $10,000 payments from Aaron Bennett shortly after he approved a $333,000 invoice from Bennett's Benetech, LLC for federally funded disaster recovery work.
Hingle has also been charged with falsely reporting $100,000 in campaign expenditures, which the government alleges he used personally and not for a campaign. He faces five years in prison if convicted.
The U.S. Attorney's office has charged Bennett with bribery and conspiracy. He faces 15 years.
Press release on Hingle, plus both bills of information after the jump.
Friday, August 5, 2011
#Danziger: Landrieu and Serpas reactions
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Mayor Mitch Landrieu on the Danziger verdicts:
“The verdicts in the Danziger Bridge trial provide significant closure to a dark chapter in our city’s history. We now have an opportunity to turn the page and to heal.With these verdicts, the American justice system delivered a clear message that no one stands above the law and that police abuse and misconduct will not be tolerated.
Today, we reaffirm our commitment to change. The citizens of New Orleans deserve nothing less than a police department that truly protects and serves — one that partners with the community to keep New Orleans safe.
Our heartfelt apologies and prayers are with the families of James Brissette, Ronald Madison, Leonard Bartholomew III, Susan Bartholomew, Lesha Bartholomew, Jose Holmes, Jr., and Lance Madison.”
New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas on the Danziger verdicts:
“Today's verdict reaffirms our belief and support of the justice system. While a terribly dark chapter of the NOPD has closed, these verdicts and those in the Glover case, reaffirm that a small number of NOPD personnel created great pain for the victims of their crimes. They also forever tainted many men and women of the NOPD who gave their all and gave so much each day during Katrina. We look to the future and the continued rebuilding of the NOPD. We will continue to recognize that we must take the first steps to heal our relationship with the people of New Orleans. Our commitment is unwavering.”
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