Ex-school board member sentenced in bribery case

LAFAYETTE (AP) — Former St. Landry Parish School Board member John Miller was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months home confinement and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine for soliciting a bribe from a candidate seeking the job of school superintendent.
Miller and fellow board member Quincy Richard Sr. were indicted last year in an investigation launched after superintendent candidate Joseph Cassimere brought the bribery allegations to federal authorities.
Cassimere began working with the FBI, and agents videotaped a meeting at an Opelousas restaurant at which Richard and Miller accepted envelopes from Cassimere stuffed with $5,000 each.
Federal prosecutors alleged Miller and Richard, in return for the cash, pledged to vote in support of Cassimere for the job and to lobby other board members to do the same.