(The following Justice Department report is based on material provided to the National Association of Chiefs of Police.)

In an ongoing public corruption investigation designated “Operation Blighted Officials,” a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Maurice A. Brown, age 45, and Mario D, Brown, age 40, both of White Castle, Louisiana, with 20 counts of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, mail fraud, wire fraud, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, and forfeiture.

If convicted, Maurice Brown, who is the mayor of the Town of White Castle, faces up to 170 years’ imprisonment and a $3,250,000 fine. If convicted, Mario Brown, who is the chief of police for the Town of White Castle, faces up to 145 years’ imprisonment and a $3,000,000 fine.

The indictment alleges that the defendants obtained cash and other things of value worth over $10,000 from businesspeople in exchange for using their official positions with the Town of White Castle for the benefit of the businesspeople in connection with transactions represented to be worth over $5,000,000. According to the indictment, such conduct occurred in connection with three different bribery schemes involving the defendants and the businesspeople.

The indictment alleges that one of the bribery schemes involved Maurice Brown obtaining cash and other things of value from businesspeople in exchange for using his position as mayor to promote and to obtain money for the businesspeople’s conceptual product known as the “Cifer 5000.” The Cifer 5000 was marketed as an automated waste container cleaning system using specially designed and equipped trucks to clean and sanitize commercial and residential waste containers.

The indictment also alleges that a second bribery scheme involved the defendants obtaining cash and other things of value from businesspeople in exchange for Mario Brown using false representations to obtain confidential law enforcement information from the FBI and providing such information to one of the businesspeople.

The indictment alleges that a third bribery scheme involved Mario Brown obtaining cash from one of the businesspeople in exchange for using his position as chief of police to fraudulently obtain leniency for an individual facing drug charges in Connecticut.