Officials Sentenced to Prison for Vote-Buying Scheme in Louisiana: DOJ

An election worker gathers tabulated ballots to be boxed in a file photo. Matt York/AP Photo

The former police chief of a Louisiana city and a former city council member were sentenced this week to one year in prison over a vote-buying scheme during a federal election, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Jerry Trabona, 73, the former police chief of Amite City, and Kristian Hart, 50, a former Amite City Council member, were accused of offering payments to voters living in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, for voting in the 2016 open primary and election, the DOJ said in a Nov. 30 news release.

Earlier this year, the DOJ said that the pair pleaded guilty to “three counts of paying and offering to pay voters during both the 2016 and 2020 elections.” In the two elections, Hart was running for the Amite City Council, the agency said.

“Trabona and Hart’s vote buying scheme included the solicitation and hiring of individuals responsible for identifying potential voters, the transportation of those voters to the polls, and payment and offer of payment to the voters for voting,” the DOJ release said Wednesday.

Alongside one year in prison, Trabona was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, the DOJ said. Calvin Batiste and Louis Ruffino, two other Louisiana men who pleaded guilty in connection to the scheme, will be sentenced at a later date, officials said.

Prosecutors had alleged that starting in January 2016, Trabona met with Hart and provided him with money to purchase votes for him. Afterward, Hart allegedly gave operatives cash to buy votes and told them to report to him after finding people to vote.

Court filings also stated that Hart allegedly told vote-buyers to provide information on people who hadn’t yet voted, take them to the polls, and then pay them to vote for a specific candidate, the report said. It noted that federal officials investigated the matter because candidates for federal office appeared on the ballots involved in the scheme.

The amount that was paid to voters was relatively small. “Typically, Hart provided the vote buyers working for him with several hundred dollars cash and directed them to provide potential voters with $10 or $20 in exchange for their votes,” according to court documents (pdf).

Also, court papers indicated that Hart allegedly used the vote-buying scheme until October 2020 when he was reelected. Reports indicated that both Trabona and Hart are Democrats.

“During the 2016 Open Primary and 2016 Open General Elections, Hart also personally paid voters for their votes for himself and Trabona, and drove several individuals to polling locations using his own vehicles,” the documents state.

Another unnamed co-conspirator was sentenced Wednesday to four months in prison in connection to the scheme, the DOJ news release said.

“We must have fair elections, free from the taint of corruption, to ensure a fully functional government,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana in a statement earlier this year. “Safeguarding the voting process is of paramount importance to our office and the Department of Justice.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Hart and Trabona for comment.