Aprill Foulcard gives parting words during her last Board of Aldermen meeting as mayor of Jeanerette in June of 2019.

Former Jeanerette mayor April Foulcard is set to be sentenced in June on charges of malfeasance in office, theft and bank fraud.

Foulcard pleaded no contest to one count of malfeasance in office, guilty to one count of bank fraud and guilty to one count of theft of more than $5,000 but less than $25,000, 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhé’s office announced in a prepared statement on Tuesday.

Foulcard’s sentencing is set for June 14 at 1 p.m.

Her sentencing exposure is up to five years at hard labor and a fine of up to $5,000 on her conviction for malfeasance in office; up to 10 years with or without hard labor and a fine of up to $10,000 for her conviction for theft over $5,000 but less than $25,000; and up to 10 years with or without hard labor and a fine of up to $100,000 for her bank fraud conviction.

In 2019, the Legislative Auditor released a report indicating that Foulcard had failed to complete mandatory audits for the City of Jeanerette.

Louisiana State Police discovered during an investigation that in addition to failing to ensure that the mandatory audits were completed, Foulcard failed to remit federal payroll taxes and file quarterly reports in a timely fashion, according to the news release. The unremitted federal taxes totaled over $125,000 from 2016 through 2018. Further, Foulcard failed to remit state payroll taxes and file quarterly reports timely. The unremitted state payroll taxes totaled over $70,000. Foulcard also failed to remit payment of witness fees to off-duty law enforcement officers as required by statute and failed to increase garbage rates when the contractor’s rate increased.

Relating to the bank fraud charge, authorities said that from September of 2019 to March of 2021, Foulcard and a co-conspirator committed multiple fraudulent online banking transactions at several banks. Foulcard withdrew the funds from those transactions before the banks discovered that the transfers were fraudulent. Foulcard received unemployment benefits from people whose identities had been stolen or in the name of fictitious persons, authorities said, and that she defrauded unemployment benefit programs in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, and Louisiana. Those illicit benefits were paid into Foulcard’s accounts and Foulcard withdrew those funds on various occasions.

For the theft charge, authorities said Foulcard and a co-conspirator contacted the victim’s bank in June 2021 and impersonated the victim in order to have $9,000 transferred from the victim’s bank abbount into Foulcard’s account. Foulcard was arrested when she withdrew the stolen funds.

First Assistant District Attorney Rob Vines prosecuted the case. The case was investigated by the New Iberia Police Department, the Louisiana Department of Justice, and the Louisiana State Police.