Home Detention for Former LHBPA Executive

A former executive of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has been sentenced to six months of home confinement for her role in a plot to rig 2008 elections for the horsemen’s group.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk also on Sept. 22 sentenced 50-year-old Cindy Romero, former farm and field director of the LHBPA, to three years of probation.

One of Romero’s co-defendants, former LHBPA president Sean Alfortish, pleaded guilty last month to engaging in a scheme to get re-elected as the head of the non-profit, which is in charge of bookkeeping at Louisiana racetracks. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines when he is sentenced Dec. 15.

Another co-defendant, Mona Romero, the LHBPA’s former executive director, has also pleaded guilty in connection with the case.

Prosecutors said Cindy Romero worked for the group and admitted she made airline reservations for her and others to fly to other states and mail falsified ballots.

Romero, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, had faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison.