Two former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies were sentenced to 50 months in prison for their role in a kickback and bribery scheme involving a contract for privatization of work release program.
The Department of Justice says David Hanson, 63, and Clifford “Skip” Keen, 53, each is sentenced to four years after they previously pleaded guilty as charged in a wire fraud scheme.
According to court documents, HANSON and KEEN, each of whom worked as Captains with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office discussed with then-Sheriff Rodney J. “Jack” Strain about becoming owners of a work-release program in Slidell, Louisiana that Strain decided to privatize.
Because STPSO rules prohibited employees from “participating” in such contracts, Hanson and Keen would have had to resign from STPSO—thereby losing their salaries and future pension increases—if they wanted to assume ownership and control of the Slidell work release program. Hanson, Keen, and Strain discussed ways to allow Hanson and Keen to maintain their employment and still profit from the Slidell work release program.
The DOJ says a third person was hired to run the program while Hanson and Keen each would be paid a salary and 45 percent of the program’s profits.
Additionally, Hanson, Keen, and Strain understood that Strain would receive financial compensation from them in exchange for bestowing the right to operate the Slidell work release program on St. Tammany Workforce Solutions, LLC.
Hanson and Keen each gave Strain a portion of the payments they received from St. Tammany Workforce Solutions LLC, according to the DOJ.
