https://www.kplctv.com/2024/09/20/former-assistant-district-attorney-indicted-bribery-money-laundering-scheme/

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPLC) - A former Louisiana Assistant District Attorney has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection to a bribery and money laundering scheme.

Gary Haynes, 66, of Lafayette is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, using his cell phone in furtherance of bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison.

The indictment is part of a wide-ranging bribery investigation in both the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).

Haynes conspired with Dusty Guidry, a former LDWF commissioner, and Leonard Franques, a Lafayette business owner, to solicit bribes and kickbacks while Haynes was an assistant district attorney, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the indictment, Haynes would direct criminal offenders to participate in a pretrial diversion program by paying to take classes through Franques’s companies and have their charges dismissed. Haynes, Guidry, and Franques agreed Haynes would receive kickbacks and discussed several ways to conceal the scheme, the indictment read.

On Jan. 12, 2024, Franques pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

On March 23, 2023, Guidry pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

Joseph Prejean is also a defendant in the case, according to KADN. Prejean owns a company that provided online courses to the 15th JDC for the diversion program. Prejean admitted to providing bribes to officials in the DA’s office in exchange for favorable business dealings. On Dec. 13, 2023, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Guidry, Franques, and Prejean are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 24, 2024.

Another person implicated in the scheme was Former LDWF Commissioner Jack Montoucet. He resigned from his post abruptly on April 14, 2023, after the allegations came to light. Montoucet has never been charged in the scheme.

Since the investigation began in May 2022, Haynes has been on leave from his position in the DA’s office and suspended from Lafayette Consolidated Government where he worked as a city prosecutor, according to KADN. Haynes’ wife, Barna, also served time in federal prison for her role in another bribery scandal that lasted from 2008 to 2012.

Defense attorney Todd Clemons released the following statement regarding the allegations against Haynes:

“Gary is relieved that he can finally commence the process of clearing his good name. Gary is a good and hardworking man. He served the citizens of Lafayette Parish with distinction for many years. He has lived under the cloud, and the enormous stress, of overtly being investigated by our federal government for well over two years.

The prosecutors authored an Indictment that tells a false story. A falsehood created by weak and less-than-honorable men pressured into cooperating with the Department of Justice. Gary Joseph Haynes is an honorable man of integrity. He will stand tall and fight these false allegations until he is exonerated by twelve of his peers.”