Former official from horsemen's group pleads guilty in election fraud

July 29, 2011 - The former executive director of the organization that represents Louisiana horsemen pleaded guilty Tuesday to her role in an election fraud scheme that prosecutors said was designed to keep her and the association's president in positions of power so they could help themselves to the group's assets.

Mona Hebert Romero, 53, who until November 2010 led the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, admitted to conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents, court papers show.

Romero's plea leaves Sean Alfortish, the LHBPA's former president, as the last defendant still facing charges in the case, which is set to go to trial Sept. 6.

Federal prosecutors initially charged Romero and Alfortish with plotting to mail falsified election ballots in March 2008 to ensure that Alfortish would be re-elected to a second term as president, and that his supporters would be named to the nonprofit agency's board.

Romero, who almost certainly will be required to testify against Alfortish as part of her plea deal, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 27. She could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

The horsemen's association, a nonprofit organization, takes a 6 percent cut of the purses at Louisiana's four racetracks, a percentage that tops $5 million a year. With that money, the association acts as the bookkeeper at tracks, pays out purses after races and provides services to horse owners and trainers, including medical insurance and worker's compensation insurance.

A 29-count indictment handed up in November 2010 charged that Romero and Alfortish lived it up on the association's money.

Alfortish received no salary as president, but collected $116,000 as director of the association's worker's compensation and simulcasting operations, on top of his regular jobs as a lawyer and, formerly, a Kenner magistrate, the indictment said. In addition, his family health insurance premiums of $1,200 a month were fully paid and he got a credit card for personal use, trips to Aruba and Grand Cayman Island, a home speaker system worth almost $3,000 and reimbursement for $25,000 he had to pay to settle with an association employee who threatened to sue him for sexual harassment, according to prosecutors.

Alfortish declined to comment Tuesday.

The indictment also alleged that Romero enriched herself on the association's dime. She too got $25,000 to make a sexual harassment complaint against her disappear, prosecutors allege. The indictment also claims Romero took $228,275 out of the medical benefits trust, got a sport-utility vehicle, credit cards, trips to Aruba and the Grand Caymans with her husband, a horse trainer, and a pricey Louis Vuitton handbag from the association. Romero allegedly also received a $2,500 payment from a hurricane relief fund the association set up, even though she suffered no eligible storm losses.

Before Tuesday, the only person to enter a guilty plea in the sprawling case had been the association's former farm and field director, Cindy "Cricket" Romero, Mona Romero's sister-in-law.

Cricket Romero pleaded guilty in December 2010 to helping Mona Romero and Alfortish rig the 2008 election by identifying which members were likely not to vote, traveling to their cities, which included Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington, Ky., Houston, Dallas and Tampa, Fla., and mailing falsified ballots from those locations, according to court documents.

Cricket Romero will be sentenced Sept. 22, according to court documents.

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