A Lafayette man has been accused of conspiracy in an ongoing federal probe of bribery in the Lafayette DA's office and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
He's the third person charged in federal court in the investigation.
Earlier this year, Dusty Guidry pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges; his sentencing is set for early next year. Last month, the feds filed a Bill of Information charging the owner of one of the companies allegedly involved in the scheme, C&A Consulting. Joseph Prejean is accused in the document of conspiracy to defraud the United States; his next court hearing is set for Friday.
This third document, filed Wednesday, accuses Leonard Franques of bribing Guidry, a "public official" not identified in court documents and others to make sure his businesses had good contracts with LDWF.
Guidry and the public official helped Franques' businesses get contracts to provide hunter and boater education classes and to provide classes that were required to resolve violations issued by the department, the document alleges.
On a day in November 2021, the bill alleges, Franques met with the public official at that person's home to talk about how they would conceal and disguise the bribes. The plan they came up with was to hold off on the kickbacks until that person left LDWF; one of the bribes was to be an all-terrain vehicle for the person, the bill alleges.
Shortly after Guidry pleaded guilty this past spring, LDWF Secretary Jack Montoucet resigned. To read our story about that, click here. Montoucet's resignation came the day after our media partners at The Advocate/Times Picayune identified him as the person of interest described in Guidry's guilty plea.
The newspapers also did a story about emails they obtained that revealed the relationship between Franques and Montoucet. To read that story, click here.
Joseph Prejean's case tells a similar story of Guidry facilitating bribes with a public official - but this one at Lafayette DA's office. That case involved the other unnamed "public official" who worked for the DA's office. In that document, the feds accuse Prejean of working with Guidry, under the direction of that employee of the DA's office, to pay bribes to Guidry and that employee to make sure his company got business through the Pretrial Diversion Program.
Guidry and the DA's employee would use their positions to steer people in the program to C&A in exchange for payments and "other tangible benefits," the Bill alleges. It specifically alleges that Prejean paid Guidry and this other, unidentified DA's employee.
In one case, a person facing charges in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes arranged to pay Prejean $25,000, and once Prejean had the money he sent $12,500 of it to Guidry. It was understood that Guidry would then pay some of that share to the DA's employee, the Bill alleges. Another person paid Prejean $20,000, the Bill alleges.
The documents filed against Guidry lay out similar circumstances, accusing him creating two companies to accept bribes from four different "vendors" in a bill of information. The bill accused him of two counts of conspiracy, one count of bribery and includes a motion for forfeiture of assets. The court record shows he pleaded guilty to all counts on March 23, three days after the bill of information was filed.
The plea agreement indicates he admitted to accepting more than $730,000 in bribes.
More than a year ago, the FBI searched the District Attorney's Office; DA Don Landry told KATC at the time that they were looking at the pre-trial diversion program. To read that story, click here.
The 10-page bill of information filed against Guidry lays out a conspiracy that began in 2021 and lasted until 2022 involving the pre-trial diversion program, two unnamed public officials and four "vendors."
Guidry used to work for the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office, but he was working as an "agent" of the Lafayette DA's pre-trial diversion program in January 2021 when the alleged conspiracy began.
Guidry was appointed to the Cajundome Commission by Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux, and to the state Wildlife and Fisheries Commission by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
