Federal probe nets guilty plea from former Baton Rouge Police Officer

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 4, 2009 - UPDATED: 10:48 a.m.

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An ongoing federal probe netted its fourth guilty plea today when a former Baton Rouge Police Officer admitted he sought and took bribes in a scheme to fix criminal and traffic charges in Baton Rouge City Court.

Leonard P. Jackson, who resigned from the police force Oct. 23, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James Brady to one count each of conspiracy to use telephones in aid of bribery and use of telephones in aid of bribery.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson, 45, of Prairieville, and unnamed others received money to fix pending criminal and traffic matters in city court, and that Jackson gave a portion of the money to then-senior city proseuctor Flitcher Bell.

Jackson also admitted today that he accepted a bribe in exhange for using his position as a police officer to collect a $10,000 gambling debt in September on behalf of an undercover FBI agent posing as the operator of an illegal gambling organization.

Bell, who resigned Thursday, pleaded guilty Friday to the same charges Jackson pleaded to this morning.

Former police Sgt. Darrell Johnson, who retired Oct. 23, pleaded guilty Friday to use of a telephone in aid of bribery.

Ed "Pooh" James, the former longtime chief investigator of the local Public Defender's Office, retired Friday and pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering and conspiracy charges in the bribery scheme.