Former Executive Director of Poverty Point Reservoir District Sentenced

MONROE, LA—Michael L. Thompson, 61, of Delhi, Louisiana, the former executive director of the Poverty Point Reservoir District (PPRD), was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for using district employees to perform work on his private property, United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finely announced today. Thompson was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,000.00 and was also sentenced to three years’ supervised release following the completion of his prison sentence. The sentence was imposed by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert G. James in Monroe.

Thompson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Shreveport in June 2007, on one count of violating the Hobbs Act. Testimony at trial showed that from 1997 to 2002, Thompson caused PPRD to pay a district contract employee for work performed on Thompson’s private property.

The Poverty Point Reservoir District is a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana created for the purpose of developing the wealth and natural resources of the district by conservation of soil and water for agricultural, recreational, commercial, industrial, and sanitary purposes, and includes the creation and maintenance of a lake within the district to further these purposes.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Monroe Resident Agency, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys C. Mignonne Griffing and Nicole S. Snyder.