Former City Court Employee Convicted of Racketeering

BATON ROUGE—United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux announced that Ingrid J. Simon, age 49, of Baton Rouge, pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to using interstate facilities in aid of racketeering (bribery), in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1952. Simon faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The sentencing date has not been set.

Simon’s conviction is based on her taking and soliciting cash bribes on approximately 30 occasions while working as a clerk at the Baton Rouge City Court from 2007 through 2010. During today’s hearing, Simon admitted that she would take and solicit cash in exchange for causing traffic matters to be dismissed. As part of the scheme, Simon would cause the city court computer records to falsely reflect that the matters had been dismissed at the request of the prosecutor.

U.S. Attorney Cazayoux stated, “Our office, together with our federal, state, and local partners, will continue to aggressively and tenaciously root out public corruption wherever found. Our citizens deserve a criminal justice system based on the merits alone, free from the inequality and injustice that comes from corruption. Our local and state courts are full of many honest employees whose good work should not be overshadowed by such corruption.”

This investigation of Simon was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Corey R. Amundson, who serves as the Senior Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.