Morial confidant to plead guilty on tax charge

Lawyer Roy Rodney, a member of former Mayor Marc Morial's inner circle whose business dealings have been under federal scrutiny for years, has agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of failure to file income tax returns, sources close to the probe said.

The sources said the deal does not represent a major break in the government's investigation, which began in 2002 and has revolved around contracts awarded by the Morial administration. Rather, it likely means the government is starting to wrap up loose ends in the inquiry.

Rodney, who has been living in Houston since Hurricane Katrina, figured prominently in the probe: He was a partner in numerous ventures with restaurateur and fellow Morial pal Stan "Pampy" Barre. Some of those deals, ranging from parking-lot contracts to landfill management, were described in a "counter letter" that became public in the government's separate but related probe of the city's massive energy contract with Johnson Controls Inc.

Barre wound up pleading guilty to three felony counts in that case, and has cooperated since with investigators, providing information that led to the subsequent bribery conviction of then-City Council President Oliver Thomas. Barre has also told the feds he delivered bribes from two local trash haulers to banker Dave Anderson in exchange for a promise that Anderson's wife, Orleans Parish School Board member Una Anderson, would steer a garbage-pickup contract to the pair.

But while Barre was facing a likely sentence of about nine years in prison, Rodney is likely to escape with probation, the sources said. His plea deal is not contingent on him providing useful information to investigators, the sources said, and he is not expected to do so.

No charges have been filed against either of the Andersons or either of the two trash haulers, Jimmie Woods of Metro Disposal Inc. and Alvin Richard of Richard's Disposal Inc.
Eddie Castaing, Rodney's lawyer, said he had no comment about the plea deal.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten did not return a call seeking comment.