Hubbard facing ethics charges

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 1, 2010

By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Still awaiting sentencing following a guilty plea to bribery charges, former St. John the Baptist Parish President Bill Hubbard now faces ethics charges for taking $20,000 from companies in exchange for contracts to do business in the parish.

At a Nov. 18 meeting, the state Board of Ethics handed down three charges against Hubbard for taking bribes from three contractors, who all held contracts in the parish. According to a release from the ethics board, a panel of judges will decide next month whether Hubbard faces punishment for the violations.

Hubbard, 46, resigned from office on Sept. 23, 2009, and pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans the following day to soliciting the bribes, according to court documents. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

The ethics investigation concluded that while Hubbard was serving as St. John Parish president, he received a $5,000 checks from Davezac Consulting Engineers and Parson & Sanderson Inc. and a $10,000 check from Pipeworks Plumbing and Demolition. At the time of the bribes, all three businesses were seeking contracts with St. John Parish.

The three companies had once held four contracts in the parish prior to Hubbard’s guilty plea. In the weeks following the plea, the St. John District Attorney’s Office ruled that the parish could void the contracts in question.

Ray A. Davezac, the former owner of Davezac Consulting Engineers, was sentenced last week to six months in jail and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for his involvement in the scheme.