Tenth Individual Convicted in Operation “Illegal Motion”

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Stan Lemelle announced today that ROBERT L. STEVENS, age 61, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, appeared before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady and pled guilty to conspiring to use interstate facilities in aid of racketeering in connection with his role in a bribery scheme relating to the Baton Rouge City Court. STEVENS faces a maximum sentence of five (5) years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

During today’s hearing, STEVENS admitted that he accepted bribes from individuals with pending matters in the Baton Rouge City Court, and then shared the proceeds of the bribes with a prosecutor who would arrange for the matters to be dismissed or otherwise “fixed.”

STEVENS is the tenth individual convicted in Operation “Illegal Motion.” The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney’s Office with the cooperation of the Louisiana Office of Inspector General; the Louisiana State Police; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigative Division; the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Criminal Investigations Division.

The cases are being prosecuted by Deputy Criminal Chief Corey R. Amundson and Assistant United States Attorney M. Patricia Jones.