Former Louisiana Police Chief, City Councilmember Plead Guilty in Federal Vote-Buying Case

Two officials in Amite City, Louisiana, pleaded guilty on July 21 to criminally violating federal election laws in a vote-buying case, the Department of Justice announced.

Court documents show former Amite City Police Chief Jerry Trabona, 72, and current Amite City Council member Kristian “Kris” Hart, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay and offering to pay voters residing in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, for voting in the 2016 primary and general election.

During both of those elections, Hart was running for his current seat on the City Council. Trabona was up for reelection as police chief.

Prosecutors said the two officials admitted that they conspired with each other to pay or offer to pay voters and then carried out the plan.

In a December 2021 news release, federal prosecutors said the two men “solicited and hired individuals to identify potential voters, and transported those voters to the polls where they were provided with the names and candidate numbers of candidates, and paid the voters to cast their ballots for candidates.”

Providing a voter with money or something of value in exchange for voting is a federal crime.

‘We Must Have Fair elections’

Trabona and Hart pleaded guilty to the charges in federal court in New Orleans on July 20 and are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1.

In addition to the conspiracy with Trabona, Hart also pleaded guilty to three counts of paying and offering to pay voters during both the 2016 and 2020 elections.

The voters who had received the money were not identified, but court documents (pdf) state that Hart gave his “vote buyers” several hundred dollars with the understanding that each voter should receive $10 to $20.

They face up to five years in prison on each count.

The FBI began investigating allegations of vote buying in Tangipahoa Parish in 2018.

“We must have fair

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