Louisiana Woman Sentenced in Ticket Fixing Scheme

A former legal and clerical specialist for Baton Rouge City Court has been sentenced to two years of probation and fined $250 after admitting that she accepted more than $5,000 in bribes.

The Advocate reports 48-year-old Ingrid Simon, of Baton Rouge, La., admitted Thursday she received that money for fixing more than 30 traffic tickets between 2007 and 2010.

Those dates show she quietly broke the law while federal investigators were breaking up a network of corrupt City Court players around her.

“There’s no indication that Ms. Simon’s behavior was linked to that much broader scheme,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey R. Amundson told U.S. District Judge James J. Brady.

Amundson was referring to the FBI’s Operation Illegal Motion, which resulted in the conviction in 2009 and 2010 of nine people. That investigation sent former senior City Prosecutor Flitcher R. Bell to federal prison for three years for orchestrating bribery schemes. Former Baton Rouge Police Officer Leonard P. Jackson was sent to prison for two years.

That same investigation earned a 20-month prison term for Edward C. “Pooh” James, former chief investigator for the Baton Rouge Public Defender’s Office, and sent former Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Darrell Johnson to prison for 15 months.

Simon pleaded guilty to one count of using telephones and automated teller machines in aid of racketeering, a charge that carries a possible penalty of five years in prison.

Brady told Simon her guilty plea means that she will not be able to vote, serve on a jury or own a firearm.

“You’re going to carry the stain of this conviction with you as long as you live,” the judge told Simon.