U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr. announced today that TRINA MARIE BOURG, age 45, of Houma, Louisiana, was arrested yesterday on a federal complaint for crimes involving the solicitation of illegal bribes from immigrants and their family members.
According to court records, on May 7, 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI") received information that BOURG, a Spanish language interpreter who provided interpreter services for Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish courts, was soliciting payments from individuals who were illegally present in the United States. BOURG represented to these individuals that she would use the money she received to bribe United States Immigration Officials in order to remove the immigration detainers and/or federal immigration charges from their criminal and/or administrative cases. According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday in federal court, in 2011 and again in 2014, BOURG solicited two bribes totaling $4,000 from an individual identified in the complaint as Victim A and his family members. BOURG received a total of $3,500 from Individual A’s family member, who paid BOURG because BOURG represented to the family member that she would use the money to influence federal immigration officials.
If convicted, BOURG faces a term of incarceration of up to of twenty years.
This case was investigated by special agents from the U. S. Department of Homeland Security-HSI and the Louisiana State Police-Criminal Investigation Division. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Fraud Unit Chief, Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
