A City Councilmember and Former Police Chief in Louisiana Plead Guilty in Vote-Buying Conspiracy

Louisiana – Yesterday in New Orleans, Louisiana, a former Amite City police chief and current member of the city council admitted to breaking the law in relation to a conspiracy to offer or pay voters to cast ballots in a federal election.

According to court documents, Jerry Trabona, 72, a former Amite City Chief of Police, and Kristian “Kris” Hart, 49, a current Amite City councilmember, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay and offering to pay Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, voters for voting in the 2016 open primary election and the 2016 open general election. Trabona and Hart admitted to conspiring with others to pay or offer to pay voters during elections in which the defendants were candidates and federal candidates appeared on the same ballot.

Hart pleaded guilty to three counts of paying and offering to pay voters during the 2016 and 2020 elections, in addition to the conspiracy with Trabona. Hart ran in both elections for the seat he currently holds on the Amite City Council.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that illegal voting, including vote buying, has no place in our nation’s electoral system,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“We must have fair elections, free from the taint of corruption, to ensure a fully functional government,” stated U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Safeguarding the voting process is of paramount importance to our office and the Department of Justice.”

“Providing a voter with money or something of value in exchange for voting is a federal crime,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Williams, Jr. of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “Today’s guilty pleas sends a clear message that individuals like former Amite Chief of Police Jerry Trabona and current Amite City Councilmember Kris Hart, who engaged in voter fraud, will be held accountable. We thank our partners at the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana for helping disrupt voter fraud and continuing to protect the right to vote.”

Both defendants face up to five years in prison on each count and are scheduled to be sentenced on November 1. A federal district court judge will impose a sentence based on the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, US Attorney Duane A. Evans of the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office.

The FBI’s New Orleans Field Office investigated the case.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Michael N. Lang and Rosaleen T. O’Gara of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Irene González of the Eastern District of Louisiana.