News

Actions

Daily Review: Former drainage worker ordered to pay $225K in restitution

Posted at 6:13 PM, Jul 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-03 12:39:38-04

A former Morgan City area drainage district maintenance supervisor has been ordered to pay over $200,000 in restitution to the district after entering a plea deal Tuesday, the Daily Review reports. 

The ex-employee had been accused in a 2015 audit report of using his position to improperly direct $2.6 million to himself, the newspaper reports. 

The original charges against Peter Businelle, 70, of Morgan City, were dismissed and he pleaded guilty in 16th Judicial District Court to the amended charge of unauthorized use of a movable over $1,000 in a plea agreement, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records. Judge Vincent Borne sentenced Businelle to serve 2 1/2 years in prison at hard labor, but suspended the execution of the sentence and placed him on two years of supervised probation, the Daily Review reports. 

Borne also ordered Businelle to pay $225,000 in restitution to the victim, St. Mary Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2 in the Morgan City area, records stated. The Louisiana Attorney General prosecuted the case, the newspaper reports.

To read the entire story, which includes all the details, click here