Woman Accused in Staged Accidents-Related Death Pleads Guilty
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A woman charged in the murder of an informant who cooperated with law enforcement to bust a string of staged crashes with tractor-trailers in New Orleans has agreed to plead guilty and work with federal investigators in exchange for possible sentencing leniency.
The woman, Jovanna Gardner, 39, of Chalmette, La., and her alleged co-conspirator, Ryan “Red” Harris, 35, of New Orleans, were indicted in May on charges of murdering Cornelius Garrison. The pair, known to be in a romantic relationship, also were charged with witness tampering.
Garrison, 54, was an alleged leader in a scheme under which drivers would intentionally stage passenger vehicles to collide with heavy trucks and then seek large court settlements in cooperation with attorneys in on the plan.
Garrison had been covertly cooperating with federal government investigators from October 2019 until his Sept. 22, 2020, death. Garrison was shot “multiple times,” according to court documents.
The five-count joint indictment accused Harris and Gardner and unnamed others “known and unknown” to the grand jury of murdering Garrison. Sources told Transport Topics that federal investigators believe a yet-to-be named attorney and an individual involved in helping inflate false medical claims in lawsuits filed against truckers were also somehow involved in the murder.
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Garrison was alleged to have staged more than 50 accidents and received more than $150,000 by an unnamed co-conspirator. A Sept. 18, 2020, indictment alleged that Garrison staged crashes mostly on Interstate 10 from Slidell to Baton Rouge and usually at night to avoid eyewitnesses. He targeted commercial vehicles, including tractor-trailers, that were changing lanes and would cause a collision by striking the commercial vehicle in the driver’s blind spot using a so-called “slammer” vehicle, according to court documents.
Prosecutors have estimated that there were as many as 100 staged accidents with tractor-trailers dating to 2015. So far, 52 individuals have pleaded guilty or been sentenced for their roles in the scheme. The ongoing investigations have been part of the FBI’s “Operation Sideswipe,” with assistance from the Louisiana State Police and the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission.
The plea agreement with Gardner, filed in federal court on June 19, called on her to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit witness tampering in return for federal prosecutors seeking dismissal of four other counts in the indictment — including murder charges that could send her to prison for life.
“The government has agreed that should the court accept the defendant’s plea of guilt to count one, the government will request the court to dismiss counts one through five,” the plea agreement said. “However, the defendant understands that the court is not bound to dismiss any count.”
The government agreed that it will not bring any other charges against Gardner for crimes committed prior to May 6 as long as she has “truthfully informed law enforcement officials of the full and complete details of those crimes prior to her guilty plea.”
Further details of the plea agreement are stipulated in a sealed document not open to the public.
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Between 2015 and the date of the murder indictment, Harris, Gardner and Garrison “caused or attempted to cause” passengers in the staged collisions to use the services of attorneys who were part of the scheme, according to court documents. The scheme included individuals who rode in automobiles as passengers knowing they would be part of staged collisions. Those individuals later lied as part of fraudulent insurance and medical claims and fraudulent lawsuits based on the staged collisions, according to court documents.
The illegal schemes allegedly were overseen by five attorneys, four of whom have not yet been named in charging documents but are “known to the grand jury,” according to court documents.
The one attorney who has been named in the case, Danny Keating Jr. of New Orleans, has been charged and disbarred but not yet sentenced. Although Keating was charged in late 2020 and pleaded guilty in June 2021, his sentencing has been delayed numerous times. His next sentencing date is scheduled for Aug. 15. On April 10, his attorney asked for certain documents to be sealed.
