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By Zoe Strozewski
Staff Writer
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An ex-Louisiana sheriff who was convicted in November of sexually abusing boys pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal bribery charge connected to an inmate work-release program, the Associated Press reported. While Rodney J. "Jack" Strain is already facing a mandatory life sentence for the sexual abuse conviction, he has yet to be sentenced for the bribery plea.
Strain served five terms as St. Tammany Parish's sheriff before losing a reelection bid in 2015. He was facing a 16-count federal indictment in the bribery case, but federal prosecutors dropped all but one of the charges, a count of bribery involving federal funds, when he pleaded guilty.
Strain, who news outlets reported was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and shackles in court, leveraged his position as sheriff to secure profits from a $1 million work-release program for himself, his family and two top deputies, the AP reported. He made the program private, and then had an adult child of each of the deputies sign on as owners, his sworn statement said.
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The adult children obtained nearly $1.4 million from the scheme, paying off Strain and funneling much of the profits back to their fathers, a court document said.
In the sexual abuse case, Strain is scheduled to be sentenced on January 18. His charges included four counts of aggravated rape, which call for mandatory life sentences, according to the AP.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
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Judge Jane Triche Milazzo can also order Strain to pay restitution when she sentences him, the plea agreement noted.
Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino told WWL-TV that he wasn't surprised by the plea agreement, since Strain faces mandatory life sentences in the state case.
Court documents in one deputy's plea agreement said he had been a child sex victim of Strain's, starting before he was 12 years old, The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported. That victim said that, as an adult, he had gone to work for Strain at the sheriff's office when he was deeply in debt. The man said Strain pressured him to join the work-release scheme.
Strain's statement said the plotters also brought in a third person who had the credentials the deputies' children lacked and actually ran the program. That person had to pay $30,000 a year to a fourth person for a no-show job, according to the document.
The no-show job went to another victim of Strain's, the newspaper reported.
The bribery charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Milazzo scheduled sentencing for March 9.
Arthur "Buddy" Lemann, a defense attorney who is not involved in either case, told the newspaper that he thinks Strain will appeal the sex charges, especially since two of the rape charges involve incidents when Strain was a juvenile.
Strain also was convicted on November 8 on two counts of aggravated incest and one each of indecent behavior with a juvenile and sexual battery.
The incest charges carry sentences of up to 20 years.
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