NEW ORLEANS — A former captain in the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for a payroll fraud scheme.
Kevin Stimage, 45, resigned and pleaded guilty in May to theft from programs receiving federal funds. U.S. District Judge Wendy B. Vitter sentenced him Tuesday and ordered him to repay $241,086 in restitution. Stimage also will be subject to a year of supervision upon his release, Vitter said.
“We want to assure the public that with the continued assistance from our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, this office will identify and prosecute any individual who commits an act of public corruption,” U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans said.
According to court documents, Stimage reported in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 that he worked on average 40 hours per week at the sheriff's office, about 40 hours per week at an off-duty work detail at a car dealership, and, beginning in 2018, about 30 hours per week at an off-duty work detail at an apartment complex, for a total of 110 hours per week, news outlets reported. But in reality, prosecutors said Stimage worked only a fraction of the claimed hours, thereby defrauding the sheriff's office, vehicle dealership and apartment complex out of nearly a quarter-million dollars.
“Public corruption occurs when a public official conducts an official act in exchange for money, goods or services,” FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Williams Jr. said in a statement. “It also includes public officials who fraudulently or illegally take something of value for their own personal gain. (Tuesday’s) sentencing demonstrates that law enforcement officers like Kevin Stimage will be held responsible and that no one is above the law.”
