LOUISIANA —A former Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputy was sentenced to 92 years in prison for several offenses.
He was held responsible for the disappearance and death of the victim whose debit card the deputy stole while investigating an automobile crash, officials said.
During Monday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo also ordered Mark Hebert, 49, to pay $13,215.22 in restitution to the bank and estate of the victim, authorities said.
“I am satisfied with today’s sentencing of former Deputy Hebert,” said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand. “In as much as I am disappointed in the actions of former Deputy Hebert, I am very pleased that my investigators were instrumental in developing the investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI. This activity will not be tolerated in my department.”
The evidence indicated that Hebert went to investigate a traffic accident involving Albert Bloch while he was a deputy and stole Bloch’s debit card and other items. He made unauthorized purchases of merchandise and withdrew money from Bloch’s J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Account using an ATM between Aug. 2, 2007 and Nov. 21, 2007, officials said.
After Bloch filed a dispute with the bank and the bank cancelled the debit card, officials said Hebert continued his scheme to defraud by trying to cash forged checks from Bloch’s account, authorities said.
Hebert then obtained a replacement debit card that the bank sent to Bloch’s address, and used that card to make further unauthorized transactions at Chase Bank ATMs, the evidence indicated.
During the course of the 2007 scheme to defraud, Bloch disappeared and his body has never been found.
Bloch, a genial alcoholic who for years had made almost daily visits to a handful of bars, disappeared that October. Bloch was veteran who suffered from a respiratory condition that required daily doses of prescription medication, but never again cashed a benefits check nor filled a prescription, according to a story in the Times-Picayune newspaper.
After a four-day evidentiary hearing in July 2014, Judge Milazzo found by “clear and convincing evidence” that Hebert was responsible for the death and disappearance of Bloch. The judge said he considered this finding in handing down the sentence.
In 2008, while the deputy was under investigation in Bloch’s disappearance, he was sentenced to three years in state prison for stealing property from other motorists he’d stopped. He was fired by the sheriff’s department in 2007, the Times-Picayune reported.
The investigation of this matter was conducted by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective’s Bureau and the FBI.