BATON ROUGE — Metro Councilman Cleve Dunn pleaded not guilty to corruption charges Wednesday morning, the fifth time he was scheduled to appear in court to enter a plea in that case.
Dunn was not notified of the first three scheduled appearances, Assistant Attorney General Joseph LeBeau said at the third hearing, which occurred July 1. Dunn was properly served for a court appearance on July 9, but the courthouse had to be closed that day due to a power outage.
Harry Daniels III, Dunn’s attorney, apologized to Commissioner Jermaine Guillory for the confusion surrounding Dunn’s court appearances.
Today, Dunn pleaded not guilty to malfeasance in office, public bribery, criminal conspiracy to commit public bribery, money laundering, criminal conspiracy to commit money laundering, public contract fraud, prohibited splitting of profits, theft over $25,000 and criminal conspiracy to commit theft over $25,000.
Dunn appears to be at the center of allegations of corruption surrounding contracts that CATS, the city-parish’s bus company, awarded. He is accused of profiting from those contracts, according to court records. He was indicted in January this year and arrested when he returned to Baton Rouge from Washington, D.C. Mardi Gras.
Four other people have also been arrested in the probe, which started with information the FBI shared with the state’s Bureau of Investigation.
“The LBI (Louisiana Bureau of Investigations) received a request for assistance and information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding allegations of public officials who allegedly accepted bribes and misused their positions to influence (CATS) procurement contracts to receive government funding,” one warrant read.
Former CATS CAO Pearlina Thomas was one of the first two people indicted. She is accused of allowing two contracts that are the subject of the investigation. Thomas has pleaded not guilty, as have contractors Jay Colar, Terral Jackson and Erica Jackson.
All five defendants are set to return to court on Aug. 18 for a ruling on a request by the state attorney general’s office to recuse Judge Gail Horne Ray, whose court was originally assigned the case. Ray is one of three judges suing Attorney General Liz Murrill in federal court over judicial redistricting in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Murrill’s office has asked that any case the attorney general’s office is prosecuting be moved to a different judge.
Ad hoc Judge Marilyn Castle is examining the recusal request and is set to rule on it on Aug. 18. Dunn and the other defendants are all scheduled to return to court that day.
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