Baton Rouge, La.-A Lake Charles fertilizer contractor is facing a maximum prison sentence of 340 years for over-billing the Louisiana prison-supply system and/or substituting cheaper fertilizer than ordered and paid for, according to federal prosecutors. On Sept. 16 a federal grand jury in Lafayette indicted Wallace Eugene Fletcher, also known as Gene Fletcher, 67, on 17 counts of mail fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Donald Washington of the Western District of Louisiana and U.S. Attorney David Dugas of the Middle District of Louisiana. The grand jury alleges that during 2004 and 2005, Fletcher participated in a scheme to defraud the State of Louisiana by over-billing Prison Enterprises $177,225 for fertilizer provided to state prisons under a state contract. The indictment alleges that the scheme involved invoicing Prison Enterprises for more fertilizer than was actually delivered, providing Prison Enterprises with cheaper fertilizer than ordered and paid for, and billing at a rate not available under the contract when the fertilizer was delivered. The indictment also includes a forfeiture allegation in which the grand jury alleges that, if he is convicted of the mail fraud counts, Fletcher should forfeit the proceeds of such offenses to the United States. His Lake Charles attorney, Maurice Tynes, told the press that “I’m satisfied that he’s going to be deemed innocent.” The chemical formulas for fertilizer are sometimes complicated, Tynes said, and appear to “have confused the federal government people somewhat.” He insisted that the Prison Enterprises system has never had a complaint with Fletcher, who is the third person charged this year in the continuing investigation by the FBI and Louisiana authorities. If convicted on all of the mail fraud charges, Fletcher could receive a maximum sentence of imprisonment of 340 years, a fine of $4,250,000, or both.
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