Former Orleans Parish Deputy, John P. Sens, Sentenced For Conspiracy To Commit Bribery

JOHN P. SENS, 52, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced today to 60 months imprisonment by U. S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt for conspiracy to commit bribery, announced U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente.  In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Engelhardt ordered that SENS be placed on three years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, pay a $100.00 special assessment, and forfeit property valued at $67,903.25.

According to court documents, SENS, the former Director of Purchasing at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (“OPSO”), began illegally receiving things of value from two contractors, identified as Businessman A and Businessman B in court documents, in exchange for a rigged bidding system employed to steer OPSO work to Businessman A and Businessman B.  In particular, from 2007 through 2011, Businessman A and Businessman B would submit bids for OPSO work in the names of their respective companies but, with the knowledge and participation of, among others, SENS, would also submit phony or fake bids for these same projects in the names of other local companies, in an effort to give the appearance of a competitive bidding process.  In many cases, the phony bids would intentionally be higher than the bids from Businessman A or Businessman B and, consequently, SENS would award the work to Businessman A or Businessman B.

In exchange for this rigged bidding process, according to court documents, SENS received various things of value from Businessman A and Businessman B.  For example, from 2007 through 2011, SENS received approximately $30,000 in cash from Businessman A, as well as the digging and installation of a pool at a residence owned by SENS, at no cost to him.  Similarly, during this same period of time, Businessman B paid for the purchase, framing, and matting of several paintings (so-called “Blue Dog” prints) for SENS.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matt Chester and Jon Maestri.