2 School Board members indicted

LAFAYETTE — A federal grand jury has indicted two St. Landry Parish School Board members for conspiring to extort money in exchange for their votes for a new school superintendent.

U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley says indictments were handed up Wednesday against 50-year-old Quincy Richard Sr. and 71-year-old John Miller, both of Opelousas.

Finley said Thursday that each was formally charged in a three-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.

From mid-July until Sept. 24, the defendants each accepted $5,000 from a superintendent candidate who was cooperating with the FBI, according to the indictment.

If convicted, both men face up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison on the conspiracy count and up to 10 years in prison for the bribery counts.