Former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single count of bribery, concluding the federal corruption case that had him indicted on sixteen counts.
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U.S. District Judge Triche Milazzo set a sentencing date for March 9. Strain faces a maximum 10-year sentence.
“It was a long time coming, and we do want to see success because we do want to see change in the justice system in St Tammany… it was a nice thing to see in there,” said Terry King with watchdog group Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany. “I would have loved to have seen all of the evidence they had to present on the case, but…he chose to plead guilty and we will take that.”
“I think it says when people work together to try to effect change, it can happen even though it takes a long time to do it,” said King. “Are we done? I don’t believe so by any stretch, but, this goes a long way to correcting a lot of the problems that were there. I still believe there are a lot of people in jail who shouldn’t be in jail…their cases need to be reviewed and they need to be getting out, but, we did what we could with the limited resources we had and I think it was worthwhile.”
The former sheriff is already facing multiple life sentences in state prison when a Northshore jury found him guilty on eight counts of sex crimes, including aggravated rape and incest. A judge will sentence him on January 18.
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