Legislative auditor fleshes out findings by media, federal prosecutors
Following up on media reports and criminal convictions, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor released a report Monday accusing former Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle of manipulating campaign and office expenses for personal gain and accepting gifts from contractor Aaron Bennett.
Former Plaquemines Parish Sheriff JIff Hingle, left, arrives at federal district court in New Orleans with his attorney, Frank DeSalvo, on Nov. 30. Hingle pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bribery.Hingle and Bennett have already pleaded guilty to participating together in a bribery conspiracy. But the details of their convictions were limited to a few specific bribery and kickback payments from Bennett, a former sheriff's office contractor, to Hingle.
The legislative auditor's report more closely tracks reporting last spring by WVUE-TV and The Times-Picayune, but provides even more detail about how Hingle used reimbursements to line his pockets.
The television station raised questions about hundreds of thousands of dollars Hingle charged to a personal credit card for services from media companies, then got reimbursed by both his election campaign and the sheriff's office, at times for what appeared to be the same service.
The auditor found $17,326 in reimbursements to Hingle that either duplicated payments Hingle and already received or were for fees he didn't really pay in the first place. One example: Hingle collected $3,744 as reimbursement for airfare, meals and registration fees for him and a deputy, Major Brandon Mouriz, to attend a conference in New Mexico in 2009. As records later showed and Mouriz admitted to auditors, they never attended the conference.
And the auditor questioned $332,549 Hingle's office paid to Robert Berning Productions for media services that had "no clear public purpose," such as glitzy annual reports, a controversial promotional video, annual Chrismas cards and campaign ads. WVUE reported on the video last spring and noted the multiple Robert Berning charges from Hingle's campaign and his professional office.
Hingle ended up pleading guilty in part for mailing campaign finance reports that listed false charges to Robert Berning and others.
The newspaper's reporting on Hingle last spring focused on the gifts he received from Bennett, after Bennett's firm Benetech got a two-year contract from Hingle to manage the construction of a new parish prison.
Although Bennett and Hingle denied it to the newspaper, Hingle later admitted to the legislative auditor that Bennett gave him a wine locker at Morton's Steakhouse as a birthday gift in 2008, according to the audit report. Hingle and Mouriz also acknowledged receiving tickets to sporting events from Bennett while Benetech was working for the sheriff's office, the report said.
Bennett pleaded guilty in October to paying Hingle $30,000 in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for quicker contract payments. Also, the auditor confirmed earlier newspaper reports that Benetech lost the jail management contract because of questionable billings, but managed to stay on the project as a subcontractor to CDM Inc. until last week.
The audit also alleged that Hingle had a conflict of interest because a sheriff's office vendor, Darren Angelo, was a business partner of Hingle's in a marina. Angelo's company, Fleet Intermodal LLC, has held sheriff's office contracts three times since 2005, even while Angelo and Hingle shared ownership of Doullut Canal Marina, the audit said.
New Sheriff Michael Lafrance responded to the audit by asking authorities to remember all the good Hingle did over 20 years as sheriff, but also said he was making changes to improve financial controls. He also said he was launching an internal investigation of Mouriz's actions.