[StBernard] Former St. Bernard judge Wayne Cresap heads to prison Monday

[Westley Annis]

Former St. Bernard judge Wayne Cresap heads to prison Monday

Published: Sunday, November 07, 2010, 7:30 AM

 Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 

A year-and-a-half after a little-known St. Bernard Parish judge was thrust
into the public limelight when he was arrested by the FBI, Wayne Cresap will
surrender to authorities Monday to begin a five-year federal prison sentence
in connection with a bribery scheme that allowed inmates to walk free from
the parish prison.

View full sizeTimes-Picayune archive

Cresap pleaded guilty to accepting cash kickbacks from family or friends of
inmates at the St. Bernard Parish Prison. in exchange for their freedom.

The former 34th Judicial District judge will be incarcerated at the United
States Penitentiary in Marion, Ill., according to his attorney, Pat Fanning.
Cresap was arrested in April 2009, pleaded guilty in October 2009 and was
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon in September.

Fanning requested, along with Lemmon, that Cresap be incarcerated at the
Federal Prison Camp at Saufley Field in Pensacola, Fla., but he ended up
being assigned to Illinois, where he is scheduled to remain until 2015.The
five-year sentence Lemmon handed down was the maximum number of years for
Cresap's crime, conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office sought a reduction in Cresap's sentence,
to four years and three months, but Lemmon denied the government's motion
for the sentence reduction.

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens wrote to Lemmon seeking leniency
toward Cresap, who he described as "a good and honorable man who strove to
serve his community fairly."

Stephens wrote in the December 2009 letter that, "Although Judge Cresap made
a terrible mistake, I would respectfully request that you take into
consideration the totality of the circumstances of his life and his service
to his community in making your decision on his sentencing and show leniency
to him."

Cresap and two St. Bernard Parish lawyers pleaded guilty to a scheme in
which the lawyers took cash kickbacks -- veiled as a retainer fee -- from
family or friends of inmates at the St. Bernard Parish Prison. They split
the money with Cresap and the judge converted 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 arrangement resulted in the release of nearly 100 inmates over a
five-year period starting in 2004. Cresap and attorney Victor J. "V.J."
Dauterive both pleaded guilty to taking between $70,000 and $120,000 over
the five-year period; the other co-conspirator, lawyer Nunzio Salvadore
"Sal" Cusimano, pleaded guilty to taking between $10,000 and $30,000.

The two lawyers were sentenced in April. Cusimano is at Saufley Field in
Florida, where he will remain until November 2012; Dauterive is at the
Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Ala., where he will remain until January
2014.

The government's motion to reduce Cresap's sentence was based on his
"substantial cooperation" with the investigation of the judicial conspiracy.
According to a memorandum filed by  Letten's office, Cresap admitted to the
conspiracy and agreed to wear a wire when he met with Dauterive to discuss
the details of the arrangement. That cooperation led to Dauterive eventually
confessing to his role in the criminal conspiracy, according to the
memorandum.

Even while in jail as a convicted felon, Cresap, 63, will continue to
receive retirement income of around $65,076 annually, after filing for a
disability retirement with the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System.
According to rules governing judicial retirement on the retirement system's
website, Cresap would not be eligible to receive retirement benefits until
he is 65, based on his length of service. But Cresap was allowed to retire
because of a disability caused by back problems, Fanning said earlier this
year.

Stephens played a key role in Cresap's ascension to state judge in 1999 by
backing him in a tight runoff.

Cresap presided over a controversial civil case in 2002 and 2003 involving
elderly millionaire heiress Arlene Meraux, who had inherited a vast fortune
of real estate from St. Bernard land baron Joseph Meraux.

In 2002 Cresap declared the elderly Arlene Meraux incapable of handling her
affairs and awarded significant control of her multimillion-dollar estate to
Sal Gutierrez, a political ally of Cresap and Stephens. Gutierrez then made
moves to appoint Stephens and other political allies to the board of the
Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation, which was to receive the
proceeds of the estate. Eventually the case was settled, and five board
members who now oversee the estimated $250 million fortune are Stephens,
Gutierrez, Chalmette lawyer Sidney Torres III, Arlene Meraux's niece Rita
Gue and Gue's husband, Floyd Gue.

All board members except Stephens have drawn annual salaries from foundation
money that have escalated from $35,000 to $120,000 each in 2007. Stephens
does not take a salary but has a management interest in the historic
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop bar in the French Quarter, once owned by Meraux
and still part of the estate, and a long-term lease to manage property that
houses the Breton Sound Marina and offshore oil and gas support equipment on
Meraux Foundation land in Hopedale.



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