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May 22, 2007
A former state official with a shaky financial history was arrested Monday on theft charges involving the Assumption Parish School Board’s unemployment contributions to the state, a Louisiana Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman said.
Joe A. Terrell, an owner of the Baton Rouge-based Unemployment Compensation Control Systems and previously, other insurance-related businesses, and his company were indicted May 15 by a grand jury in Assumption on four felony counts of theft over $500.
Terrell was state deputy commissioner of administration under former Gov. Edwin Edwards from 1972 to 1980 and a former chairman of the Southern University Board of Supervisors.
Assumption Superintendent Earl “Tibby” Martinez and the school system’s business manager, Melissa Boudreaux, both said Monday that $145,000 of the money the system paid contractor UCCS is missing.
UCCS was tasked with forwarding the school system’s unemployment claim reimbursement money to the state Department of Labor, Boudreaux said.
Back in December 2005, Boudreaux said, the state Department of Labor notified the school system that a year’s worth of unemployment contributions had not been received.
Boudreaux said the school system tried to contact Terrell and his company many times about the problem, but UCCS officials told Assumption school system officials they would take care of everything.
Boudreaux said UCCS did not send the state the unemployment claim payments and the school system had to reimburse the state.
She said the school system filed a lawsuit in March 2006 against UCCS asking for $200,000, which is still pending.
Martinez said the school system still had to pay the state what was owed on the unemployment reimbursements even though the system already paid UCCS.
“It’s a real problem and we need to try to recoup this money,” he said.
Among other things in the 1980s and 1990s, Terrell:
Was accused of hiding $1.4 million in delinquent payments to the state’s unemployment system from several school systems and public agencies.
Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy along with business partner Al Ransome.
Was convicted of failing to file a state income tax return. He filed his federal tax return late and failed to disclose an “$80,000 tax liability.”
Was awarded a video poker gaming license by State Police although he initially failed to disclose that he had been sued by the Resolution Trust Corp. for allegedly cheating a Hattiesburg, Miss., savings and loan out of $2 million.
Was called “an unindicted co-conspirator by Illinois authorities in the 1981 Brilab case that led to the convictions and prison terms for Charles E. Roemer II and reputed New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello when Terrell’s riverboat casino application was denied by that state.
Each count of theft over $500 carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to Louisiana law.
Terrell was booked late Monday afternoon in Assumption Parish by state Attorney General’s Office agents, said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office.
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