United States Attorney David R. Dugas announced today that EVELYN J. HOLDEN, age 52, KOVERIA D. WILLIAMS, age 44, and ANN M. WARR, age 58, all residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were charged in Bills of Information arising out of Operation “Illegal Motion.” All three were arraigned today before U.S. District Court Judge James Brady and pled guilty to the charges contained in the Bills of Information filed against them.

The Bill of Information filed against EVELYN D. HOLDEN charges that from in or about 2008 through October of 2009, while employed in the property section of the 19th Judicial District Court, HOLDEN conspired with Flitcher Bell and others to engage in bribery by soliciting payments from individuals with criminal and traffic matters pending in Baton Rouge City Court with the promise that the charges would be dismissed or otherwise “fixed.” HOLDEN faces a maximum sentence of five (5) years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The Bill of Information filed against KOVARIA D. WILLIAMS charges that from in or about 2008 through October of 2009, WILLIAMS conspired with Flitcher Bell and others to engage in bribery by soliciting payments from individuals with criminal and traffic matters pending in Baton Rouge City Court with the promise that the charges would be dismissed or otherwise “fixed.” WILLIAMS faces a maximum sentence of five (5) years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The Bill of Information filed against ANN M. WARR charges that from in or about 2008 through October of 2009, WARR, while employed with the Baton Rouge City Court, conspired with Edward James and others to engage in bribery by soliciting payments from individuals who were required to perform community service with the promise that the requirements would be fraudulently satisfied by falsely creating court documents reflecting performance of community service by the defendants. WARR faces a maximum sentence of five (5) years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The charges resulted from Operation “Illegal Motion,” an ongoing investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the cooperation of the Louisiana Office of Inspector General; the Louisiana State Police; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigative Division; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General; and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality – Criminal Investigations Division. The cases are being prosecuted by Deputy Criminal Chief Corey R. Amundson and Assistant United States Attorney M. Patricia Jones.

Here is the full list of those implemented and the charges against them, so far:

Flitcher Bell: Baton Rouge City Prosecutor; Charged with accepting money in exchange for having charges dismissed; entered guilty plea and resigned from the Clerk of Court’s Office

Darrell Johnson: Baton Rouge Police Sergeant;  Charged with fixing a prostitution charge; entered guilty plea and resigned from the Baton Rouge Police Dept.

Leonard Jackson: Baton Rouge Police Officer;  Charged with bribery in connection with fixing charges in Baton Rouge City Court;   admitted to accepting a bribe  to collect a $10,000 debt using his position as an office; plead guilty and resigned.

Edward C. James: Chief Investigator for the Public Defender’s Office;  Charged with taking money from people within the judicial system that had pending charges. He would then share the money with someone from the prosecutor’s office or some other court official to have the charges dismissed. Resigned from the Public Defender’s Office

Evelyn Holden: Clerk of Court’s Office; Charged with conspiracy which stems from her alleged solicitation of cash from those with criminal and/or traffic charges in Baton Rouge; plead guilty and resigned

Koveria Williams: Friend of Flitcher Bell; Charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities in aid of racketeering by accepting bribes in exchange for using his connection to Bell for having charges reduced or dismissed in city court. Has not yet plead to these charges as of 11-19-09.

Ann Warr: Clerk of Court’s Office; Charged with accepting cash in exchange for doctoring community service hour sheets; expected to enter a plea later this afternoon (11-19-09)