NEW ORLEANS (BNO NEWS) – A Louisiana man on Friday was charged with conspiracy to solicit and give bribes involving a public official, prosecutors said.

Ray Anthony Davezac, 55, a resident of Destrehan, Louisiana, was charged with one-count of conspiracy to solicit bribes.

According to court documents, Davezac owned and operated Davezac Consulting Engineers, LLC. The charge alleges that the President of St. John the Baptist Parish, William Hubbard, solicited a bribe from Davezac. Davezac paid a $5,000 bribe made payable to a local automobile dealership for the benefit of Hubbard.

Further, Davezac allegedly received a contract from St. John Parish at a date after the bribe payment was solicited and paid.

If convicted, Davezac faces a possible maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and 3 years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

NEW ORLEANS (BNO NEWS) – A Texas man on Thursday was sentenced to federal prison for his role in an ecstasy drug conspiracy.

Dat Viet Tieu, 43, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and an additional 3 years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment. According to court documents, Tieu pled guilty, admitting he was the source of more than 4,000 tablets of ecstasy that had been found by law enforcement in a residence in Slidell, Louisiana, in May 2006.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration had been investigating a possible shipment of drugs from a source in Texas. Agents eventually were led to the Sidell residence, in which approximately 50kg of cocaine, some marijuana, and firearms were found in addition to the ecstasy.

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the New Orleans and Houston Field Offices, along with Task Force Agents from St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s office, St. John Sheriff’s Office, Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Office, and the Hammond Police Department.

NEW ORLEANS (BNO NEWS) A Metairie, Louisiana resident on Thursday pled guilty to making false statements to the United States after filing a fraudulent application.

Frederick C. Rabito, 64, filed an application in October 2006 with the Louisiana Road Home Program falsely claiming a property as his primary residence. As a result of the false statement, he received $122,396 in Road Home assistance to which he was not entitled.

Rabito faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, restitution, and three years of supervised release.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) – A New Orleans resident was indicted Thursday in a four count indictment by a federal grand jury for making threats to kill President Obama.

According to the indictment, John Turnpaugh, 47, made an anonymous call to a New Orleans Police Department dispatch center on December 30, 2009, telling the 911 operator that he was going to kill Barack Obama and his wife and hung up.

The indictment also alleges that Turnpaugh possessed with the intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana. Furthermore, according to the indictment, he also illegally possessed several firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking activity.

If convicted of all charges, Turnpaugh faces a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a $1 million fine.

The case was investigated by agents from the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the New Orleans Police Department.

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) – Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine announced Wednesday a drastic reduction in department spending and proposed privatizing certain department programs to offset the $108 million deficit.

“Governor Jindal made clear he wanted us to protect services for the elderly and the disabled as we approached the mid-year budget challenges,” Levine said. He added that “our approach has been to consider access to Medicaid services and to vital programs while acknowledging that in tough times, we cannot be everything to everyone. We have to be targeted in how we spend our resources.”

Reductions in the non-Medicaid program are part of a larger strategy by the Department to rely more on community-based care in the private sector rather than state-funded institutions. Anthony Keck, Deputy Secretary, said that “by relying less on more costly state-operated services when we have capacity existing in lower-cost, highly effective and proven private community-based services, we are able to deliver high quality, compassionate care to our clients at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”

A transition task-force led by officials from each program office is working with DHH human resources and Civil Service to attempt to relocate employees displaced by the new department policies, where possible. Additionally, the transition task-force is considering retirement incentives and other motivations to encourage private sector establishments to hire state employees who have been laid off as a result of the budget cuts.

Keck states that “many of our employees will be highly sought-after in the private sector […]” and he insists that every possible effort will be made “to match up employees with employers.”

The budget cuts have eliminated at least 818 positions throughout the Department’s programs including the Office of Public Health, the Office of Mental Health, and the Office for Addictive Disorders.

“Government must be innovative and must constantly be in search of better ways to provide quality service in a more efficient manner,” Levine said. “We will continue to pursue policies to move Louisiana’s health agenda forward while we ensure we are living within our means.”

The Department announced previously this year that the Medicaid program was facing a spending deficit. Due to a revised estimate in relation to the H1N1 Influenza expenditures, the budget has been revised downward from the November 2009 estimate of $275 million in total funds to an estimated $248 million.

The Department of Health and Hospitals stated that they have already begun working to identify cost-saving measures and rate reductions to implement in state fiscal year 2011, when they say there will likely be even greater financial challenges.

PRAIRIEVILLE, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) — Five people were killed and eight others were critically injured after a crash on Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday, officials said.

The accident happened around noon local time when a mini van apparently blew a tire and struck a large box truck, according to Russell Graham, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police. The mini van, which was carrying thirteen people, then crossed the center median and overturned at least one time.

All the thirteen people aboard the mini van were ejected from the vehicle, Graham said, saying only the driver was believed to have been wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the box truck was not injured in the accident.

PRAIRIEVILLE, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) — At least five dead and eight critically injured after accident on the Interstate 10 near Prairieville, state official says.