By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLCE – A Destrehan engineer and former St. John the Baptist Parish contractor who pleaded guilty to paying a $5,000 bribe to former Parish President Bill Hubbard was sentenced Thursday in federal court.

Ray A. Davezac, 55, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery involving a public official. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier, who handed down the sentence in federal court in New Orleans, also ordered Davezac to serve six months home detention. Davezac pleaded guilty to the charge on April 22.

Hubbard, who also pleaded guilty to bribery charges in September 2009, is scheduled to be sentenced in January. Sentencing has been delayed because of Hubbard’s cooperation with federal prosecutors.

According to court documents, authorities said Davezac paid $5,000 to an area automobile dealership as part of a bribe solicited by Hubbard on May 5, 2009. Davezac was one of three contractors who paid about $20,000 in bribes to Hubbard, who signed a bill of information stating that he used the money to purchase a car for his girlfriend.

Hubbard resigned from office on Sept. 24, 2009, and pleaded guilty in federal court the following day.

Davezac’s company, Davezac Consulting Engineers, was later granted a $1 million contract to manage St. John Parish’s $29.5 million bond program for infrastructure improvements parishwide that was approved by voters in 2009.