The next courtroom developments in the Louisiana staged accident scam are steps that already have been taken numerous times: delaying the sentencing of two individuals who flipped and cooperated with the investigation.
Both Damian Labeaud and Danny Keating pleaded guilty several years ago, Labeaud in 2020 and Keating in 2021, to the usual array of charges in what prosecutors called Operation Sideswipe where deliberately planned collisions with trucks were undertaken to try to pry loose an insurance payout.
Those federal charges against Labeaud and Keating in the U.S. Eastern District for Louisiana, as they did for virtually all defendants in the case, involved a combination of mail fraud and wire fraud.
Labeaud was one of the leading “slammers” in the scam, plowing vehicles into a truck before escaping on foot, while the other passengers in the car rearranged where they were seated. He was working closely with Keating, an attorney.
But while Labeaud and Keating had been scheduled to be sentenced, those actions had been postponed again and again.
Sentencings were next week
The two were set to be sentenced next month, Labeaud on April 2 and Keating on April 9.
But recently-filed court documents suggest that sentencing of the two men, who both testified in the recent trial that led to criminal convictions of Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles, will be postponed again.
The most recent document in Labeaud’s docket says both he and the U.S. Attorney’s office are in favor of a delay.
In the case of Keating, a Motion to Seal filed Thursday refers to an “Unopposed Motion to Continue Sentencing.” That also suggests both Keating and the U.S. Attorney’s office are lined up on the issue of another postponement of sentencing.
Both men are free on bond.
Murder trial in August
It is unclear if Keating and Labeaud’s testimony is going to be needed in what might turn out to be the most sensational trial of the entire staged accident affair: the prosecution of Sean Alfortish and Leon “Chunky” Parker for the murder of Cornelius Garrison in 2020, after Garrison pleaded guilty to Operation Sideswipe charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
The trial is set for August 10.
The recently-concluded Motta/Giles trial was not directly connected to the Alfortish and Parker charges on the Garrison murder.
But in her remarks from the bench after Motta, Giles and the King Law Firm were convicted of all charges, and another defendant Daiminike Stalbert had a mix of convictions and acquittals, Judge Wendy Vitter suggested she believed Motta might have had advance knowledge of the Garrison murder that prosecutors say was committed by Alfortish, who was and reportedly still is Motta’s fiance.
The latest delay in Labeaud and Keating’s sentencings suggest they may have a role in the murder trial.
Motta and Giles sentencings set for July
The sentencings with a firm date are on three consecutive Tuesdays: 44-year-old Motta and her law firm on July 7, 47-year-old Giles and the King Law Firm on July 14, and 35-year-old Stalbert on July 21.
Debates on how much time they will get continue. The crimes themselves carry a maximum penalty of 20 years though multiple convictions can always lead to consecutive sentences.
This FreightWaves article had one local attorney seeing a sentence on either side of 10 years, while another sees 20 years as a possibility.
Another lawyer, Michael Magner of the law firm of Jones Walker, suggested on his blog that a 15- to 20-year sentence is possible.
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