NEW ORLEANS – Kevin Dermody, a 38-year-old resident of Oswego, Illinois, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhart to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000. The sentencing date has been set before the Hon.Kurt D. Englehart on June 4, 2008.
According to the court documents, Dermody pled guilty to a charge involving defrauding the Jefferson Parish Public School System’s tax-deferred employee benefit plan of approximately $4 million. The defendant and his co-conspirators did so by making many false representations including falsely creating contract documents with the Jefferson Parish School Board and then backdating those same contact documents to make it appear to justify that the transactions conducted by the defendant were authorized and disclosed to the Jefferson Parish School Board and the Jefferson Parish Public School System participants. According to a plea letter filed in court, Dermody is expected to provide cooperation.
Dermody pled guilty to a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury on May 12, 2006 along with two other co-defendants, Randall J. Veselik and David Augustyn, who have previously pled guilty.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Postal Inspectors of the U. S. Postal Inspection Service. This prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney James R. Mann and Jon Maestri.
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DOJ Mar. 3, 2008 press release
