A superseding indictment in the ongoing Louisiana staged accident scam is notable for widening the indictment of one of the key players in the conspiracy but also showing that the scope of the planned truck collisions had more incidents than in the earlier set of federal charges.
The broader indictment handed down last week by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana was an extension of the charges first filed in December 2024 against a group of lawyers and other participants in the plan to intentionally drive passenger vehicles into trucks with the goal of collecting an insurance payout.
While there had been dozens of indictments and guilty pleas over the last 5+ years in the scam, those mostly snared low-level participants. Many of them did nothing more than ride as a passenger in a car that would strike a truck, hoping to collect a payout that might reach low four figures. There were sentences that reached four years; others involved no more than probation.
But the December 2024 indictment was different. It involved law firms, individual attorneys and people that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana said were involved in the murder of Cornelius Garrison in 2020. Garrison was a cooperating witness with investigators and had pleaded guilty just before he was shot in the doorway of his New Orleans home.
More obstruction of justice charges
The latest indictment expands existing obstruction of justice charges against Sean Alfortish.
Alfortish is a disbarred attorney who was in a romantic relationship with Vanessa Motta, the former stuntwoman and attorney who also was swept up in the original 2024 indictment.
Among the charges levied against Alfortish were that he paid the “slammers”–who drove into the trucks–for their activities; tampered with potential witnesses as the conspirators received news of the ongoing federal investigation into the scheme; and most stunningly, conspired with Leon “Chunky” Parker to kill Garrison. Parker was indicted in the 2024 action and both he and Alfortish are in federal custody.
Two others were also indicted for the murder of Garrison, though charges against one of the pair were dropped. The other person indicted in connection with that murder, Ryan “Red” Harris, pleaded guilty in January 2025. His sentencing was originally set for October but court records do not show that having occurred.
What is new in the latest indictment are charges that Alfortish, even after being indicted in late 2024, is charged with witness tampering. The indictment says he attempted to have an unidentified witness commit perjury in any testimony relating to the prosecution and investigation. There are two additional counts of witness tampering against Alfortish in the superseding indictment.
More collisions listed
What is also notable about the superseding indictment are the number of staged collisions identified by date that are not in the original indictment, suggesting that the investigation is uncovering a wider scope of activity.
A side-by-side comparison of the December 2024 indictment and the superseding indictment of last week reveals several dates of staged collisions in the more recent indictment that were not in earlier documents.
Court records indicate the first trial related to the charges will begin March 2 against the attorneys and one law firm involved in planning the staged collisions. Those are referred to in court documents as the “fraud” trial, as opposed to the trial involving the Garrison murder.
The grouping of those charged in the fraud portion of the case besides Motta are her firm, the Motta Law Firm; the King Law Firm; Jason Giles, who was described in the indictment as a former member of the firm; and three individuals involved in the actual collisions, Diaminike Stalbert, Carl Morgan and Timara Lawrence.
The murder portion of the indictment with Parker and Alfortish as the defendants will be tried separately.
Guilty pleas awhile ago, still no sentencing
Two other prominent guilty pleas in the case go back several years. Damian Lebeaud was a key “slammer” in the scam who would plow a car full of passengers into a truck (or in one case, a bus). He pleaded guilty in 2020.
He has been cooperating with prosecutors and was mentioned several times in the original and superseding indictment against Motta and others. His sentencing has been delayed multiple times and is now set for April 2.
Danny Keating is an attorney who pleaded guilty in 2021. He also is mentioned in the Motta/Giles indictment. His sentencing, also delayed several times, is set for April 9.
Beyond the plea of Red Harris, the series of guilty pleas among the on-the-ground participants of “slammers” and passengers in the cars has not grown since a guilty plea of Antoine Clark in October 2024. When that was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office, it brought the number of guilty pleas in what prosecutors dubbed Operation Sideswipe to 49. Most of the guilty pleas were to charges of mail fraud.
None of the indictments have gone to trial. If the trial against Motta, Giles and others proceeds to a trial on March 2, it will be the first one to reach a courtroom in the long saga.
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