Red Light Camera News Feds widen investigation in Jefferson Parish (REDFLEX Subpoena)
Feds widen investigation in Jefferson Parish
Federal investigators are digging deeper into the scandal in Jefferson Parish. The feds sent two subpoenas requiring the parish to turn over extensive information on the red light cameras as well as payroll discrepancies first reported by FOX 8.
Federal prosecutors want employment records for two current Jefferson Parish employees and four whose jobs were eliminated after the parish uncovered what could possibly be payroll fraud.
Earlier this year, after a Fox 8 Investigates report revealed payroll discrepancies in the Parish Attorney's Office, the parish eliminated the positions of Sportscaster Ken Trahan, Karen Parker, who is the ex-wife of Aaron Broussard, and Constable Tony Thomassie.
Thomassie said during an interview earlier this month that he's embarrassed and hurt by his name surfacing in connection with a scandal, he says had nothing to do with his work.
"I went to a meeting with Aaron Broussard and Tom Wilkinson and that's when I was offered a part-time job and they told me 'you gonna be listed as a paralegal working under Code Enforcement under the direction of Debbie Villio.'"
FOX 8: "Did it seem strange to you that you would be called a paralegal and working in Code Enforcement?"
Thomassie: "I was looking for additional employment and they could have called me a paraplegic and I wouldn't care and I just figured that they were the people that know what to do."
By phone Friday, Thomassie said he did not know that federal investigators are looking into his case and that he has records to prove he did his work.
Interim Parish President Steve Theriot also eliminated the $12,000 a year position of part-time Parish Attorney Steve Mortillaro.
According to parish records Mortillaro was working in the health department.
However, by phone Friday, the former Justice of the Peace said Broussard hired him on retainer to eventually be a hearing officer for drivers with red light camera tickets.
Mortillaro says former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson was his supervisor and that he was not required to come into the office.
The feds also asked for employment documents on Kernan "Skip" Hand. Hand was hired by former parish CAO Tim Whitmer last September as an Administrative Hearing Officer.
Theriot says Hand was brought in to help clear out a back log of cases and that he will be leaving the parish when that work is done.
The subpoena also asks for the employment records of Chereen Gegenheimer, an administrative assistant to the parish president who makes $106,000 a year.
Gegenheimer is married to JP Clerk of Court John Gegenheimer.
"They (federal prosecutors) may be looking to see if these individuals did in fact report to work and perform services for their pay. And as such, what the federal potential violations would be if any public employee didn't and they were paid. If those funds were transferred electronically into any checking accounts it could be considered a wire fraud," said Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
The feds also asked for extensive information about the parish's red light camera program.
The parish council suspended the program after questions came up about who was set to make money off the deal.
Redflex Traffic Systems has said that local insurance agent Bryan Wagner and Julie Murphy, the wife of JP Judge Bob Murphy, would be paid for working on the deal.
"I think that there is a lot of information that the federal authorities already have that they're pouring through right now and this is just a logical extension of them following up and independently verifying maybe some of the information that was provided to them by various individuals that have first hand knowledge," said Goyeneche.
The subpoena asks for everything related to the camera contract, including all communications between Broussard, Whitmer, Wilkinson, council members and their staffs, Wagner, Murphy, the committee that wrote the proposal for the deal and parish contractor Charlotte Burnell.
"They're looking at not just the initial three or four names that surfaced but now we're seeing more and more names," said Goyeneche.
Theriot recently canceled a contract with Burnell.
She was hired to facilitate a $3.5 million federal grant for making houses more energy efficient but Theriot says the contract was over loaded with administrative fees.
Goyeneche says the feds must have good reason for wanting this information "The federal government, they have stringent rules they have to play by, they just can't go on fishing expeditions. They have to present credible information to the judge that meets the legal standards for him to allow these subpoenas to go forward," said Goyeneche.
The Redflex subpoena also asks for all communications to or from a Baton Rouge company called Courson Nickel.
Owner Jim Nickel says his company only represented Redflex regarding matters at the capital and that his company never had any dealing with Jefferson Parish.
Burnell says she is not due any commissions on the Redflex contract.
Burnell says she did work for the company in 2007 and has already been paid.
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