[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap to resign before being sentenced for role in bribery scheme

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap to resign before being sentenced for
role in bribery scheme
By Chris Kirkham 
October 01, 2009, 7:44PM

A longtime St. Bernard Parish judge who handled some of the parish's most
high-profile civil lawsuits pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to
taking part in a judicial bribery scheme that allowed inmates to get out of
jail without paying any bond money.



Judge Wayne Cresap, of the 34th Judicial District, netted more than $70,000
over five years as a result of the scheme that also involved two St. Bernard
Parish lawyers, Victor J. "V.J." Dauterive and Nunzio Salvadore "Sal"
Cusimano, who also pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of conspiracy to
commit wire fraud.

As part of the plea before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon, Cresap
will resign his judgeship before he is sentenced in January. The crimes are
punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Also as part of their pleas, the three men agreed to cooperate in any other
relevant investigations into area corruption.

Cresap and Dauterive both pleaded guilty to taking between $70,000 and
$120,000 in bribes over a period of five years starting in 2004. Cusimano
pleaded guilty to taking between $10,000 and $30,000 during the same period.

The judicial corruption scheme, as outlined in a bill of information filed
in July, involved Cresap taking in cash from each lawyer in exchange for
converting secured bonds, which require actual money or property to be
pledged, into personal surety bonds that required only a written agreement
that the money would be paid if the defendant skipped court. The lawyers
would take cash from the inmate's family or friends, then split the money
with Cresap, according to the charges.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Thursday that nearly 100 inmates were released
through the bond scheme during the five-year period. Letten said he doesn't
think any of the inmates released had committed violent crimes.

"That scheme was a simple one, but it was a classic kickback payoff scheme,
" Letten said during a news conference outside the U.S District Courthouse
in New Orleans. "They deprived the citizens of that judge's honest serivces.
It was a pure act of corruption."

The payments by the inmates were usually between $1,500 and $3,000,
according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Marcelle and Richard Pickens,
who prosecuted the case. The bribes were veiled as retainers for the
lawyers, prosecutors said.

Details of the case initially came to light in late April, when Cresap was
arrested by the FBI. Letten said at the time that agents made an arrest, an
unusual move for white-collar crimes, because of concerns that Cresap might
harm himself. Usually in white-collar cases, authorities allow defendants to
surrender.

FBI agents had confronted Cresap in a parking lot earlier in April about the
scheme. According to an affidavit from the arrest, Cresap admitted to the
scheme at the time.

Cresap's attorney, Pat Fanning, said the judge has not yet resigned but that
he agreed to do so before Lemmon sentences him Jan. 14. Cresap has not heard
any cases in 34th Judicial District Court in Chalmette since April, and will
not hear any more, Fanning said.

He described Cresap as truly remorseful for what he did.

"I've had a lot of these cases, and I've represented a lot of clients, and I
can usually tell the ones who feel bad about what they did and the ones who
feel bad that they got caught, " Fanning said. "In this case I can tell you
he really, truly feels bad about what he did."

As part of the plea agreements, Cresap, Dauterive and Cusimano agreed to be
interviewed by prosecutors or potential grand juries in other cases. Letten
said he could not comment on any potential investigations, but said
procesutors and FBI agents will continue to follow any leads in this case.

It's unclear exactly how Cresap's judgeship will be filled once he resigns.
In May, the state Supreme Court appointed Judge Robert Klees, a former chief
judge of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, to oversee Cresap's court through
Nov. 7.

Cresap can submit his resignation to either the Louisiana secretary of
state's Office or the Louisiana Supreme Court, which would then call for an
election on the next available regularly scheduled election date.

For Cusimano and Dauterive, the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel, an arm
of the Louisiana Supreme Court, would file for interim suspension once they
receive documentation of the guilty plea. After a hearing, the Supreme Court
would ultimately decide on sanctions for the two attorneys, said Charles
Plattsmier, the office's chief disciplinary counsel.

The charges against Cresap would not preclude him from receiving pension
benefits from the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System, said Steve
Stark, an attorney with the system. But Stark did not have specifics
Thursday on what benefits Cresap could receive based on his time of service.

Cresap, a Democrat from Poydras, has served in the 34th Judicial District
since 1999, when he was elected as an underdog candidate with the backing of
St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens.

Several years after being elected, he oversaw the bizarre legal fight over
the estimated $250 million estate left by Arlene Meraux, the heiress to St.
Bernard land baron Joseph Meraux's fortune.

His rulings in 2002 and 2003 led to the elderly Arlene Meraux, then in her
80s, being declared unfit to handle her personal affairs. A court order in
2002 tightly restricted who could visit Meraux and left day-to-day care in
the hands of her niece, Rita Gue, who had moved to Louisiana from Michigan
with her husband, Floyd, less than two years before to live with Meraux.

Eventually, after a protracted legal fight over who could control the
estate, Cresap's rulings led to the creation of a charitable foundation
tasked with overseeing the fortune. Board members include Floyd and Rita
Gue, local lawyer Sidney Torres III, Stephens and Sal Gutierrez, a longtime
legal advisor to the sheriff.

Since then, all board members except Stephens have drawn salaries from
foundation money that have escalated from $60,000 to $120,000 each in 2007.
An attorney who works for Torres, Becky Cieutat, received $60,000 from the
foundation in 2007, records show.


In 2006, the state Supreme Court slapped Cresap with a 30-day suspension for
violating judicial conduct rules during a 2002 hearing on the state
Department of Natural Resources' request to remove a fellow St. Bernard
Parish judge from presiding at trial over oyster harvesters' claims that
wetlands restoration projects had destroyed their oyster beds.

When the charges were filed in July, Cusimano was a member of the Parish's
Planning Commission. He has since resigned from the seat.

Dauterive had served as the secretary-treasurer of the Parish Police Jury,
the forerunner to the council. He pleaded guilty in 1987 to concealing the
commission of a felony as part of a federal probe into bid-rigging and
kickbacks in the parish.