Bail set for ex-officials indicted in public contract fraud case

Bail has been set at $300,000 for a former Morgan City-area drainage district employee, indicted Monday in an alleged public contract fraud scheme.
Peter Businelle, 68, of Morgan City, a former maintenance supervisor for St. Mary Parish Consolidated Gravity Drainage District 2, was indicted on charges that he directed millions of dollars in district business to his welding company, failed to do enough work to justify the money, and gave some of the proceeds to the district board’s ex-chairman, Carl Kraemer, 51, of Patterson.
A St. Mary Parish grand jury indicted Businelle on the charges of prohibited splitting of profits, fees and commissions, public payroll fraud and public contract fraud.
Businelle’s bail was set at $300,000.
Kraemer was indicted on the charge of prohibited splitting of profits, fees and commissions. Kraemer’s bail was set at $50,000.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Traci Landry said neither Businelle nor Kraemer had been booked into parish jail. Bench warrants for both men were issued Monday.
Prosecutor Brett D. Sandifer handled the grand jury presentation for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office.
No additional court dates have been set yet for the defendants, Attorney General’s Office spokesman Aaron Sadler said in an email.
The 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office turned the investigation over to the attorney general in May, citing a potential conflict involving a district attorney’s employee who is also a former drainage district board member.
The district operates nine pump stations, seven of them inside the Morgan City limits, and is in charge of other drainage infrastructure.
The drainage district is supported by property taxes paid by district residents and businesses.
The District Attorney’s Office set the investigation in motion when it wrote to Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera, saying the office had received information that an independent contractor may have misappropriated district funds.
The result was a May audit report that accused Businelle of acquiring district business worth about $2.6 million for PAB Welding between 2009 and 2013, when he was a supervisor for the drainage district. Businelle was also accused of paying nearly $43,000 to Kraemer.
The audit report also found evidence that more than $10,000 worth of equipment had been purchased with district funds and could not be found.
The drainage district board has since been reconstituted with new membership.
An indictment is not a conviction.
An indictment means that a grand jury has found sufficient evidence, in the absence of a defense, to warrant a trial on the charges alleged.