Another indictment has come down in an ongoing bribery investigation; Jack Montoucet, former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, has been indicted on federal charges.
Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury has handed up an indictment accusing Montoucet of one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
His is the latest in a string of indictments in the case. Three men already have pleaded guilty, including Dusty Guidry, who is described as the one who orchestrated a scheme to generate bribes from business owners using programs designed to allow defendants to avoid prosecution, and/or programs defendants were ordered to complete by the court.
A former Lafayette Assistant District Attorney, Gary Haynes, was indicted in the case and is set to stand trial in September. In that indictment, the grand jury alleged that Haynes, 66, of Lafayette, conspired with Guidry, Leonard Franques, and others to solicit bribes and kickbacks and to accept things of value while Haynes was an Assistant District Attorney in the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office (the D.A.’s Office). Haynes' attorney has denied the allegations.
Guidry and Franques already have pleaded guilty, along with a business owner, Joseph Prejean. Guidry pleaded guilty on March 23, 2023, to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of bribery. Prejean pleaded guilty in December 2023 to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official in the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office. Franques pleaded guilty on January 12, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. All three men are scheduled to be sentenced in October - after Haynes' trial.
In some of the indictments, a state official with Wildlife and Fisheries was referred to, but never named. After the first indictment came down, Montoucet resigned.
This latest indictment alleges that while Montoucet was secretary, Guidry was a member of the commission that made policy and controlled the state department's budget. The indictment alleges that Montoucet put him on the commission and Guidry would do what Montoucet told him to do.
Franques created a business to provide online educational courses used by the department, and, the indictment alleges, Guidry, Franques and Montoucet conspired during a two-year period to give state contracts to Franques in exchange for kickbacks to Guidry and Montoucet.
Franques' company would provide online hunters’ education and boaters’ education courses and the education courses to resolve LDWF citations, keep part of the revenue citizens paid to take those courses, and pay Guidry and Montoucet money or give them things of value, the indictment alleges.
According to the indictment, $122,507 was held from those contracts to pay to Montoucet - after he retired. They planned that Franques' company would hire Montoucet after he left the department, and pay him that money as a "signing bonus," the indictment alleges.
If convicted, Montoucet faces up to five years on the conspiracy count and up to 20 years in prison on the fraud and money laundering counts, plus fines of up to $1 million.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Myers P. Namie, Lauren L. Gardner, and LaDonte A. Murphy, along with Trial Attorneys Trevor Wilmot and Steven Loew of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice.
