[StBernard] Feds investigating some records involving St. Bernard Parish's Meraux Foundation

[Westley Annis]

By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune
<http://connect.nola.com/user/ckirkham/index.html>  


February 05, 2010, 3:54PM


Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed court records in St. Bernard Parish
relating to a high-profile civil case that decided the fate of a
multi-million dollar estate once owned by land baron Joseph Meraux, the
parish's clerk of court confirmed Friday.

The subpoena asked Clerk of Court Lena Torres
<http://www.stbclerk.com/modules.php?name=system> to provide court records
later this month that detail the fight over the estate of Arlene Meraux, the
heiress to Joseph Meraux's extensive real estate holdings in St. Bernard
Parish and the French Quarter. The case was presided over by former Judge
Wayne Cresap of St. Bernard's 34th Judicial District, who pleaded guilty to
a kickback scheme last October involving rigged bonds for inmates at the
parish prison.

Cresap's sentencing date was originally scheduled for Jan. 21, but it was
postponed until April 22. As part of the plea agreements, Cresap and two
other lawyers involved in the scheme agreed to be interviewed by prosecutors
or potential grand juries in other cases.

Kathy English, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jim Letten
<http://www.justice.gov/usao/lae/usattorney/index.html> , said she could not
comment on whether a subpoena was issued.

Torres said the subpoena requested records of the interdiction and
succession of Arlene Meraux's estate. Arlene Meraux was the lone heiress to
the estate of Joseph Meraux, a banker, philanthropist and collector of
lavish antique furniture who was the son of legendary St. Bernard Sheriff
Louis "Doc" Meraux.

Joseph Meraux died in 1992, and the court later declared that his longtime
companion, Arlene Soper, was his putative wife although they had never
actually married.

Intrigue had always surrounded the Meraux estate, and in 2002, when Arlene
Meraux's health began to decline, her niece, Rita Gue, sought an
interdiction that would declare the elderly Meraux unfit to handle her
personal affairs due to severe dementia. Cresap granted the interdiction,
but only after issuing a subpoena requiring Meraux to return to St. Bernard
from Illinois, where she was visiting her daughter and was about to sign
over power of attorney.

When she returned, the elderly Meraux was placed under strict supervision at
Chalmette Medical Center and Cresap granted Gue temporary power over her
affairs. Cresap appointed Sal Gutierrez, a longtime legal advisor to Sheriff
Jack Stephens, as curator of Meraux's business affairs.

Meraux's will expressed her wishes for the estate to be handled by a
charitable foundation, and over the next year, Gue and Gutierrez fought in
court over the makeup of the foundation's board. Gutierrez tried to get
himself and Stephens appointed; Gue tried to put herself and her husband,
Floyd, in charge. 

Eventually a deal was brokered and a five-member board was appointed that
included Gutierrez, Stephens, local lawyer Sidney Torres III, and Floyd and
Rita Gue.

All of the board members at the charitable foundation except Stephens
receive 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. ***Annual
compensation for the board members is more than annual charitable donations
the foundation hands out, according to the non-profit's tax records.***

The Meraux Foundation has donated a tract of land across from the Chalmette
Battlefield for the parish's yet-to-be-built hospital. It also donated the
land that now houses the parish's new animal shelter.

Gutierrez said he had heard a rumor about the subpoena, but hadn't seen it
firsthand.

"It's been public record. There's nothing to hide there," Gutierrez said.
"Everything was done according to the law, and we have no problems with it
and no hesitation with it."


--Chris Kirkham can be reached at ckirkham at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.



I think everyone has known the "foundation" has stunk to high heaven since
its inception and that Joe and Arlene Meraux would be rolling in their
graves if they saw how this has all transpired.

JY