Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2001
Source: Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright: 2001 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Contact:  http://www.theadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
Author: Brett Barrouquere and Melissa Moore

LEGISLATOR HIRES LAWYER, DENIES ROLE IN EBR PROBE

House Speaker Charles DeWitt, D-Lecompte, has hired a prominent 
defense attorney amid allegations that he is involved in an 
investigation of drugs, prostitution and political corruption.

DeWitt's attorney, Mike Small, said Wednesday that DeWitt denies 
wrongdoing in the latest investigation to hit Louisiana's political 
scene.

"We do not anticipate that charges will be filed, but will meet them 
head-on if they are," Small said in a statement issued Wednesday 
afternoon.

Neither the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office nor the U.S. 
Attorney's Office would comment on Small's statement.

DeWitt had not been previously named in the investigation and has not 
been charged.

Small's statement is the first confirmation that the legislator is 
involved in the probe.

Four people - a Baton Rouge business owner, a radio station ad 
executive, an exotic dancer and a suspected drug dealer - have been 
arrested so far in a case Sheriff's Office records say involves 
"prostitution, drug trafficking and political corruption within East 
Baton Rouge Parish."

Kenneth Breitenbach, owner of Digital Press & Graphics, was arrested 
July 19 on an obstruction of justice count.

Breitenbach was accused of asking an unnamed co-defendant "to lie 
about his having paid a prostitute for sex, as well as the defendant 
having provided cocaine to that prostitute," according to a sheriff's 
affidavit.

Breitenbach was arrested again July 27 on counts of conspiracy to 
distribute cocaine and Ecstasy.

Lisa Yaegle, an account executive at Guaranty Broadcasting, which 
includes radio stations WDGL-FM and WTGE-FM, was arrested July 25 on 
the same drug counts.

Warrants say both Breitenbach and Yaegle admitted to buying cocaine 
from Henry Marshall at Marshall's Fairway View Apartment on College 
Drive.

Marshall, the suspected dealer, was arrested July 23 on the same drug 
counts as Breitenbach and Yaegle.

Sybil Ann Truss, a former Gold Club dancer, was arrested Tuesday on a 
count of conspiracy to distribute crack and powder cocaine in the 
same investigation.

Gold Club spokesman John Kirkendoll said Truss was fired in April 
from the Gold Club.

He said Gold Club officials have been in touch with the Sheriff's 
Office and will cooperate in the investigation if needed.

Truss' husband, John Gonzales Jr., is wanted on the same counts as 
his wife, but had not been arrested as of Wednesday, sheriff's Lt. 
Darrell O'Neal said.

No one has been arrested so far on prostitution or political 
corruption counts, but one man who has been cooperating with 
investigators told them he has been involved in a "prostitution ring 
that had included relationships with multiple prostitutes and 
prominent Baton Rouge business people," according to one warrant.

This man also told investigators he was coming forward because the 
"sex, drugs and prostitution had reached into a level of state 
politics that he felt his personal safety was at risk," the warrant 
said.

Small would not discuss specifics of the investigation, how DeWitt's 
name surfaced and whether he is a target of the probe.

"I don't really want to go beyond (the statement) now," said Small, 
who once represented former Gov. Edwin Edwards.

Small of Alexandria said DeWitt "categorically denies" any wrongdoing 
or "having allowed his legislative office to have been corrupted."

"We are confident that a fair evaluation of the evidence in this case 
will result in the complete exoneration of Mr. DeWitt," Small said.

Attorneys who represent people implicated in the investigation have 
said DeWitt is not involved with their clients, Small said.

Small declined to name the other people or attorneys.

DeWitt has been mentioned as a candidate for the congressional seat 
held by U.S. Rep. John Cooksey, R-Monroe.

Cooksey, who represents much of northeast Louisiana, is planning to 
run for the U.S. Senate in 2002.

Gov. Mike Foster and legislators defended DeWitt.

Foster's press office quoted the governor as saying, "Charlie DeWitt 
is a good friend. I know him as a decent man. I believe his 
statements that he has done nothing illegal or compromised his 
office."

State Sen. Joe McPherson, a Woodworth Democrat whose Senate district 
covers the same area as DeWitt's, said he doesn't know what might be 
going on.

"I'm not familiar with anything that Charlie would have done that 
would have implicated him in anything," McPherson said. "I'd be 
shocked and dismayed if I found out otherwise.

"I see him at a lot of functions. If something would have been there, 
I would have been aware of it. I'm just not," he said.

House Education Committee Chairman Carl Crane, R-Baton Rouge, said he 
was surprised to learn of the statement issued by DeWitt's attorney.

"I wouldn't expect Charlie DeWitt to be associated with those things 
based on my knowledge of him and my experiences with him," Crane 
said. "I was just shocked by it. Totally surprised."

Editor's note: Advocate staff writers Emily Kern, Chris Gautreau and 
Randy McClain also contributed to this story.
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