St. Louis, MO - MARCUS LIPE, 64, O’Fallon, Missouri, former Deputy Sheriff in St. Louis County, pled guilty to taking cash payments from moving companies in exchange for favorable treatment in enforcing court orders of eviction, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today.

In a separate but related indictment, Darryl J. Nance, owner of New Star Enterprises, a moving company, was indicted late last week on six counts of bribery.

According to statements presented in court at the time of the plea, Lipe admitted that, while serving as a Deputy Sheriff, he accepted cash payments from representatives of several St. Louis area commercial moving companies to facilitate evictions. Deputy sheriffs have discretion as to the scheduling of evictions assigned to them. They decide the number of eviction orders to be enforced in one day and which order the evictions will be done. As part of the ongoing practice of making cash payments to the deputies, the commercial movers also sought the advantage of being recommended by a deputy sheriff to a landlord or property owner who had obtained a court order of eviction but had not hired a moving company. Lipe admitted receiving cash payments totaling between $5,000 and $10,000 in time frames from 2003 through September 2005. The payments were prohibited by state law and the St. Louis County Charter.

A commercial mover which stopped making cash payments risked losing a competitive advantage to other movers who complied with the practice. The commercial movers made the payments in order to remain competitive and, if possible, gain an edge on the competing businesses.

As part of his guilty plea to two bribery charges, Lipe told United States District Judge Henry Autrey that he received a cash payment from Landlords Moving Service in September, 2003 and another cash payment from New Star Enterprises in May, 2005.

Lipe faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 on each count. Sentencing has been set for January 2007.

Late last week, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against DARRYL NANCE, 53, of Florissant, Missouri. Nance is the owner of New Star Enterprises, which is one of the moving companies associated with the payments to the Deputy Sheriffs. Nance is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court tomorrow.

Three other former deputy sheriffs are facing trials in October on similar charges. They are:
Curley Hines, 78, of St. Louis; David Rodriguez, 51, of St. Louis; and Richard Robinson, 60, of Florissant.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Hanaway commended the work performed on the case by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Louis County Police Department