A former police chief in Amite and a former Amite councilmember were each sentenced yesterday to one year in prison for violating federal election laws.
73 YO Jerry Trabona, the former Chief of Police in Amite, and 50 YO Kristian Hart, a former Amite councilmember, agreed with each other and others to pay or offer to pay voters residing in Tangipahoa Parish for voting during the 2016 Open Primary Election and the 2016 Open General Election contests in which Trabona and Hart were candidates. Trabona and Hart’s vote buying scheme included the solicitation and hiring of individuals responsible for identifying potential voters, the transportation of those voters to the polls, and payment and offer of payment to the voters for voting.
In the 2016 election, 69 YO co-conspirator Sidney Smith, of Amite, paid voters with money provided by Trabona and Hart.
Two other Louisiana men who previously pleaded guilty for their involvement in the vote buying scheme, Calvin Batiste and Louis Ruffino, will be sentenced at a later date.
The FBI New Orleans Field Office investigated the case.
