[StBernard] Sentencing for disgraced former St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap delayed

[Westley Annis]

Sentencing for disgraced former St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap
delayed again
By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
April 21, 2010, 10:00AM

Sentencing for former St. Bernard Parish Judge Wayne Cresap has been pushed
back again by more than two months, according to a filing late Tuesday in
U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

Cresap's sentencing was scheduled for Thursday, after it had been pushed
back from late January. HIs sentencing is now scheduled for July 1 at 2 p.m.
before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon.

Cresap pleaded guilty last October, along with two St. Bernard Parish
lawyers, to taking bribes in exchange for allowing inmates to be released
from jail without posting bond. Sentencing for the two lawyers, Victor J.
"V.J." Dauterive and Nunzio Salvadore "Sal" Cusimano, will proceed Thursday
at 2 p.m.

The U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment Wednesday. Cresap's attorney,
Pat Fanning, said the government filed a sealed motion to delay the
sentencing, but would not comment any further or elaborate on the sealed
motion.

 

As part of Cresap's plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and
potential grand juries in other relevant cases. Since the first sentencing
delay, the U.S. Attorney's Office has issued subpoenas to the St. Bernard
Clerk of Court and the board of the Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable
Foundation seeking documents that led to the naming of the foundation board.

Cresap played a pivotal role in the Meraux Foundation legal drama. In 2002
he declared elderly heiress Arlene Meraux to be incapable of handling her
own affairs and awarded significant control of her multimillion dollar
estate to Sal Gutierrez. Gutierrez is a political ally of Cresap and St.
Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens.