A recently unsealed federal indictment is shedding new light on Operation Sideswipe, a New Orleans staged-crash scheme that dates back as far as 2011.
On Dec. 9, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana announced the unsealing of a 10-count superseding indictment charging eight individuals and two law firms for their roles in the fraudulent scheme.
The individuals named in the indictment include:
- Ryan Harris, 36, New Orleans
- Sean Alfortish, 57, New Orleans
- Vanessa Motta, 43, New Orleans
- Jason Giles, 45, New Orleans
- Leon “Chunky” Parker, 51, New Orleans
- Diaminike Stalbert, 34, Metairie
- Carl Morgan, 66, New Orleans
- Timara Lawrence, 34, New Orleans
In the indictment, prosecutors present charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, making false statements, witness tampering through murder, retaliation against a witness through murder and violation of the federal gun control act.
According to prosecutors, several of the individuals charged acted as “slammers,” the name for a driver who would intentionally cause wrecks with commercial vehicles that had been identified by “spotters.”
After the wrecks, the slammers would claim injury and sue the truckers’ insurance companies with the help of local attorneys. Both Giles and Motta are attorneys charged in the indictment, along with Alfortish, who has been disbarred.
An attorney for Motta said she is “completely innocent of any wrongdoing,” calling the allegations against her “terribly mistaken.”
“If these accidents were in fact staged, my client was also a victim and taken advantage (of) by others,” Motta’s attorney told Fox 8 in a statement. “Over the last five years, Vanessa has been unjustly vilified in the press, and so while we strongly believe this indictment is misguided, we are looking forward to the trial of this case, where Vanessa will finally be vindicated.”
Also charged in the indictment are The King Firm (Giles) and Motta Law, LLC. Attorney Danny Keating, who pled guilty in 2021 for his role in the scheme, was also named in the indictment along with at least four still-unnamed attorneys.
Prosecutors allege the scheme began as early as December 2011 and has continued into this year.
The indictment also discusses the murder of Cornelius Garrison, who prosecutors say began “covertly cooperating with the federal government concerning staged automobile collisions” around October 2019.
Harris is accused of killing Garrison, who was shot at his apartment in September 2020, four days after being indicted with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and other offenses related to the staged wrecks. Prosecutors allege it was part of a scheme to “prevent Garrison from cooperating with the federal government and exposing the scheme.”
With the latest indictment, a total of 63 defendants have been charged in the course of the federal probe into Operation Sideswipe. LL
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