(Updated) Peveto pleads guilty to 123 theft counts in Capital Management case

Donnasue Peveto, the Houma woman accused of participating in the looting of Capital Management Consultants Inc. and other businesses linked to Morgan City and to the Guarisco family, pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering and multiple theft counts and agreed to testify against her co-defendants, according to the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
In all, Peveto, 59, entered guilty pleas to 123 counts of theft over $1,500 as well as to racketeering. Peveto, who could serve up to a total of 25 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced April 12.
Peveto and her attorney signed a certificate outlining the plea deal Wednesday.
The information from the District Attorney’s Office said Peveto joined Karen Duhon, Armond Duhon, James Scott Tucker and two companies in a criminal enterprise.
On June 29, District Attorney Bo Duhe filed a bill of information collectively charging Karen Duhon and Armond Duhon, who are married; Peveto; A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City; and Nelson-Tucker LLC with one count of racketeering, 354 counts of theft of $1,500 or more and 100 counts of money laundering.
The Duhons own A-B-C Siding Co., while Tucker, Capital Management’s former controller CPA, owned Nelson-Tucker LLC. Tucker died in January 2014.
According to the plea agreement, Peveto, who worked for the Guarisco family beginning in 1980, worked with Karen Duhon and Tucker to steal from Capital Management. At least 123 times, Peveto received checks drawn on a Capital Management account by Karen Duhon and signed by Tucker, then deposited the checks in her account and wrote personal checks back to Duhon, the plea agreement said.
“They all knowingly and intentionally stole the money, but assigned excuses and rationalizations for these activities through the years,” the plea agreement says.
Peveto also told prosecutors that on hundreds of occasions, Tucker took blank checks from three art galleries owned by the Guariscos and used them to withdraw money with which to pur-chase art. But no art was acquired. Peveto estimated that an average of $25,000 to $50,000 was taken on each of those occasions, the plea agreement said.
Peveto told prosecutors that Tucker persuaded Maria Guarisco to provide signatory authority to pay her bills and forward the bills to Capital Management. Karen Duhon opened four American Ex-press accounts in Guarisco’s name and, over the course of years, made purchases amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then she used Guarisco’s personal funds to pay the balances on the cards, all without Guarisco’s consent, the plea agreement said.
And Peveto said she gave five Salvador Dali prints to attorney Michael Aloise without the permission of the Guarisco family, which owned the prints, according to the plea agreement. Each print was worth more than $1,500.
On the racketeering charge in the bill of information, the suspects were accused of being part of a “criminal enterprise” that began before Jan. 1, 2001, and continued through March 25, 2014, when Morgan City police began an investigation into the alleged crimes. The suspects were alleged to have knowingly received proceeds derived from racketeering activity and used those proceeds to acquire immovable property, the bill stated.
On July 24, 2014, Peveto was arrested by Morgan City police on seven counts of theft more than $1,500 totaling $633,700 from Capital Management Consultants.
On July 29, 2014, Karen Duhon of Morgan City was charged by Morgan City police on eight counts of felony theft totaling $1.233 million and, on Jan. 2, Karen Duhon was additionally charged with 28 counts of theft of over $1,500 totaling $221,801.01.
On June 25, Armond Duhon was arrested on charges for 23 counts of theft over $1,500 totaling $773,785.27, money launder-ing, intimidation of witnesses and racketeering in connection with the case.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 30, 2014, Capital Management Consultants alleged that Tucker was the leader behind a conspiracy to steal money from the company along with former bookkeeper Karen Duhon dating back possibly to the early 1980s. The company also alleged that Karen Duhon and Tucker had a sexual relationship.
Peveto, who worked as an assistant bookkeeper and assistant to management, found out about Tucker and Karen Duhon’s theft from the company so they paid her to stay quiet, Capital Management Consultants spokesman Marwan Mohey-El-Dien said.
Mohey-El-Dien is married to Laura Guarisco, daughter of company founder the late Peter V. Guarisco, who discovered the theft after Tucker died, Mohey-El-Dien said.
Guarisco turned the infor-mation over to accountant Mark Munson and company President Victor Guarisco, Mohey-El-Dien said.
In January, Mohey-El-Dien said Capital Management had forensically proven more than $15 million in theft from Capital Management and believed that number could be as high as $30 million.