Louisiana Wildlife Secretary Jack Montoucet resigns amid bribery, kickback scandal

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet resigned Friday amid a bribery scandal in which federal prosecutors have implicated Montoucet in a kickback scheme.

Gov. John Bel Edwards accepted Montoucet's resignation without comment and named LDWF Deputy Secretary Rob Shadoin as the new secretary of the agency.

Shadoin previously served with Edwards in the House and was among the first Republican elected officials to support the Edwards, a Democrat, in his first runoff election against then GOP U.S. Sen. David Vitter.

Montoucet, 75, was appointed by Edwards in 2016 to lead Wildlife and Fisheries.

The bribery scandal was first reported by The Advocate, which secured court documents that say Dusty Guidry conspired with Montoucet to steer contracts to a private company that would handle hunting and boating licenses and resolve legal violations with kickbacks to be delivered to Montoucet upon his retirement.

Guidry, who was an Edwards appointee to the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission and worked for two district attorneys including Lafayette District Attorney Don Landry, pleaded guilty in federal court in Lafayette to three counts of bribery.

The FBI raided Landry's 15th District Attorney's Office in May and Guidry was put on unpaid leave in connection with a separate bribery scheme he orchestrated through a pretrial diversion program in which defendants avoided jail if they paid private companies to take classes and perform services in which Guidry received kickbacks.

Montoucet, a retired chief of the Lafayette Fire Department and former alligator farmer, served with Edwards when both were in the House of Representatives. Montoucet represented Acadia and Lafayette parishes in the House, where he was a fierce ally of Edwards.

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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana Wildlife Secretary Jack Montoucet quits amid bribery scandal