Another vendor implicated in a widespread justice-for-sale corruption scheme with tentacles in Lafayette and Baton Rouge has been hit with a federal conspiracy charge, a sign that federal prosecutors are starting to close in on their ultimate targets — one of whom was a member of Gov. John Bel Edwards' cabinet.
Leonard Franques was charged Wednesday in a bill of information, which usually indicates a defendant has signed a plea deal and intends to cooperate. No date has been set for a first appearance.
Franques is the second vendor charged in the scheme, which centers on Dusty Guidry, who oversaw pretrial diversion programs for 15th Judicial District Attorney Don Landry, of Lafayette. In March, Guidry pleaded guilty to taking more than $800,000 in kickbacks from four unnamed vendors who ran that office's pretrial diversion programs. Those programs allow eligible defendants to avoid prosecution by paying a fee — sometimes a substantial one — and completing coursework aimed at keeping them out of future trouble.
Franques owns a number of businesses but is best known for opening a series of Pizza Hut franchises in the Lafayette area. The charges against him come just two weeks after another vendor, Joseph Prejean, of Church Point, was charged in a similar bill of information.
Prejean is due in federal court in Lafayette on Friday to answer those charges.
The prosecution's primary targets in the sprawling case appear to be two prominent public officials. The first is Gary Haynes, Lafayette's city prosecutor and an assistant district attorney from the time Landry took office in January 2021 through May 2022, when Landry put him on leave, shortly after FBI agents raided the DA's offices. The second is Jack Montoucet, who served as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries under Edwards before resigning earlier this year.
Edwards appointed Guidry to the state Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, and Guidry has admitted conspiring with Montoucet and a vendor — now known to be Franques — to profit from state contracts.
Federal investigators were apparently listening in on some of those negotiations. The Times-Picayune | The Advocate have previously reported that authorities, using a wiretap order that lasted four months in late 2021, captured at least 1,500 "incriminating" phone calls made or received by Guidry and another player in the scheme, believed to be Haynes.
Neither Haynes nor Montoucet have been charged with a crime to date. Lawyers for both men said their clients are innocent.
Split three ways
The documents charging Franques include few new details. But they say that Montoucet and Guidry used their positions at the LWDF to steer a contract to a firm owned by Franques called DGL1. That firm would provide education classes for hunters and boaters as well as courses to help offenders resolve violations written up by LDWF officers.
In return, the document says, Franques would give two-thirds of his profits to Guidry and Montoucet. While Montoucet is identified as "Public Official 2" rather than by his name, in keeping with Justice Department policies regarding people who have yet to be charged, the documents make clear he is the person in question. For instance, they note that "Public Official 2" was a high-level employee of LDWF until April 14, the day that Montoucet resigned.
The new documents say Guidry, Franques and Montoucet met at the latter's house on Nov. 19, 2021, to discuss how they'd divvy up the money. They decided at that meeting that Montoucet was only to be paid after he left office, and that in addition to the cash kickback, Franques would purchase Montoucet an all-terrain vehicle.
The date of the meeting is during the four-month period when federal authorities were listening in on calls.
The charging documents make no mention of Franques' role in providing pretrial diversion services to the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Another company he owns, Lake Wellness Center, was one of four firms that Guidry would refer pretrial diversion clients to. Guidry has admitted taking roughly $163,000 in kickbacks from Franques for those referrals.
Guidry has also said he took about $89,000 from Franques in connection with the LDWF scheme, but those payments are not mentioned in the new court documents.
While four vendors were implicated in Guidry's plea deal, two of them have not been charged to date.
Guidry is set to be sentenced Jan. 12.
