NEW ORLEANS— Former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain pleas guilty to federal corruption charges related to a prison work-release program.
Strain’s plea comes less than a month after he was convicted in state court on multiple sex crime charges.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, shackles and handcuffs — former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain plead guilty in Federal Court today. He plead guilty on federal charges of bribery and a kickback scheme in connection with an inmate work-release program in Slidell.
“I believe he plead guilty because he was in fact guilty. There was no way he could defend against that case,” Terry King with the Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany Parish said.
Strain plead guilty to the Federal charges of using his authority as Sheriff to award a public contract worth millions of dollars. The money would benefit his close friends, family members, and himself through a private inmate work-release program.
According to investigators, two of his friends Skip Keen and David Hanson were put in charge of that work-release program, and a family member was given a yearly salary of $30,000 for a “no show” job.
“We sent over 12-thousand pages of documents concerning Jack Strain on work release programs,” King said.
King said that Strain’s plea of guilty shows when public officials break the law, they will be caught.
“It was a long time coming and we do want to see success and a change in the justice system. This goes a long way to correcting a lot of the problems that were there,” King said.
Sentencing for this case will take place on March 9, 2022. In another case, back in early November a jury found Strain guilty on eight sex crime charges including aggravated rape. He’s awaiting sentencing in January, but could face life in prison on all those charges.