Mefferts, St. Pierre indicted by feds

The hunter has become the hunted.

Seven years after technology whiz Greg Meffert arrived at City Hall as a top official in Mayor Ray Nagin's optimistic new administration and began crusading against the corruption and waste he found there, Meffert has been charged, along with his wife and former city tech vendor Mark St. Pierre, with 63 felony counts in what authorities say was a lucrative kickback scheme.

A federal grand jury Friday indicted Meffert, his wife, Linda Meffert, and St. Pierre on counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, false statements and filing false tax returns.

Prosecutors charge that Meffert was steering millions of dollars in taxpayer-financed contracts to St. Pierre's companies in exchange for more than $860,000 in kickbacks, including cash, credit card charges, grass-cutting and other home services, and even payment of membership dues to Carnival krewes.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Meffert changed city procedures to make sure that St. Pierre, his friend and former private-sector employee, would get $4 million worth of city work, using large companies with state contracts as conduits for getting St. Pierre's firms the work without having to go through a bid process. Letten appeared to be referring to an executive order signed by Nagin in June 2004 that said technology services did not have to be procured competitively.

An example of such a deal that has drawn much attention is a 2006 contract that allowed the city to buy crime cameras from computer giant Dell Inc. Letten said Meffert allowed St. Pierre a circular deal in which St. Pierre's firm Veracent was able to buy cameras, sell them to Dell, then make money again as the city's camera installer when Dell resold them to City Hall.

While Meffert's legal troubles have been documented for months, the charges against his wife, Linda, came as something of a surprise. Linda Meffert is charged with making false statements to FBI agents after claiming that $38,000 she received from a St. Pierre company on Nov. 9, 2004, was for accounting work done by her company, The Bottom Line Co: Strategic Financial Consulting LLC. She told agents she worked six hours a day at a rate of $90 per hour, the indictment says, but prosecutors allege she did not actually work for St. Pierre.

The timing of the $38,000 payment is crucial. This Sunday marks five years since St. Pierre allegedly cut that check to the Mefferts, and Letten acknowledged Friday that his team of prosecutors were facing some statute-of-limitations deadlines.

The Mefferts and St. Pierre are scheduled to be arraigned together Thursday, according to court documents. At arraignment hearings, defendants typically plead innocent before a federal magistrate judge, regardless of whether they ultimately intend to sign a plea deal.

So far, that looks unlikely. The Mefferts' attorney, Randy Smith, did not respond to requests for comment Friday, but doubted the basis for criminal charges against Meffert as recently as Monday.

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