By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE – A St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputy was fired and arrested today on multiple forgery and fraud charges after an investigation revealed he was allegedly falsifying seatbelt citations while working overtime.

Authorities say William S. Marciante Jr., a five-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, filled out a total of 21 tickets for seatbelt violations to unsuspecting drivers who were never stopped for the violations. Capt. Pat Yoes, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said the tickets were written between February and May of 2011 while Marciante worked grant-funded overtime hours through the state Highway Safety Commission.

“Investigators believe he was simply randomly running license plates of passing motorists,” Yoes said. “There was no pattern to it, and the victims were evenly balanced between black and white and male and female.”

Yoes said the investigation was initiated in August, when a resident who was supposedly ticketed responded to a bench warrant letter sent from the Sheriff’s Office for failure to appear in court or pay the fine for the ticket. The resident stated she had not been stopped for the violation and had not received a citation.

Investigators issued a search warrant of Marciante’s patrol vehicle and reviewed his computer and dashboard camera video activity for the time period in question. Evidence showed that the stops never took place and in some instances Marciante was not working during the times he issued the citations even though he submitted overtime.

Through a handwriting analysis, detectives also determined that Marciante forged drivers’ signatures for more than 12 of the citations. Yoes said the remaining cases are still pending an analysis.

Sheriff Greg Champagne said in a statement he is “disgusted” by what the investigation revealed.

“This job is difficult enough, but because of Marciante’s actions, the job has gotten a little harder,” Champagne said. “It is mind-boggling to understand how someone would be so irresponsible and think it would not eventually be detected. Once we discovered discrepancies, we immediately investigated and took swift actions.”

Yoes said Marciante was booked on 27 counts of malfeasance in office, 21 counts of injuring public records, 21 counts of forgery and six counts of public payroll fraud. He is being held at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Hahnville on a $50,000 bond.

“Marciante’s arrest should serve as an example to anyone who chooses to victimize the very people we take an oath to protect,” Champagne said.