New Orleans, La. - Mark Titus, a potentially crucial witness in the federal investigation of River Birch Landfill, has been out on bond since he pleaded guilty last October in a separate embezzlement scheme.
While out on bond, federal prosecutors say Titus continued to violate the law and now they want a judge to revoke his bond.
Prosecutors say Titus opened up several bank accounts after his guilty plea and then wrote out checks to himself and his wife. They say between January and March of this year, Titus cashed those checks, worth $181,500. Prosecutors allege that Titus was basically hiding the money so it wouldn't be seized.
The federal judge, though, still has more questions and for now, has decided not to rule on Titus' bond.
"It's very unusual for the government to be attempting to put in jail its star witness, and Titus is now saying that he's going to break the deal he's got with the government," says Buddy Lemann, an attorney for River Birch CFO Dominick Fazzio. Fazzio faces charges that he helped Titus embezzle more than $1 million from a construction company.
Titus is working with the government to build the case against Fazzio, but Lemann says, if the judge decides to revoke the bond and send Titus to prison, he will likely refuse to cooperate.
"If the government doesn't have Titus to testify against Fazzio, then it has no case," says Lemann.
From there, a domino effect could ultimately throw a wrench in one of the government's highest-profile local probes, the River Birch landfill case.
"Fazzio is the chief financial officer of River Birch. He's Fred Heebe's number one man, so the government is trying to get Fazzio to plead guilty to something and then agree to testify against Fred Heebe," says Lemann.
No charges have been filed in the River Birch investigation, but Heebe, the landfill's owner, has been under investigation as part of a broader probe into how contracts were awarded in the local garbage disposal industry.
What it boils down to is the potential fallout from the judge's decision on whether or not to revoke Titus' bond.
The judge is expected to make a ruling in the Titus case in about two weeks.
Titus will be sentenced on October 3 and faces five years in prison on the embezzlement charges.
Mark Titus (File/Times-Picayune)
