Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A New Orleans man and Chalmette woman accused of killing a government witness in 2020 have been indicted by a grand jury.
Ryan Harris, 35, and Giovanna Gardner, 39, were indicted on Friday, May 3, on charges including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit witness tampering with murder, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. tampering with murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness with murder, retaliation against a witness with murder.
The indictment alleges that beginning in 2015, Harris, Gardner and Cornelius Garrison were involved in an insurance scheme that staged car crashes on New Orleans interstates in order to bill insurance companies fraudulently. There is.
According to court documents, Harris is a “slammer,” defined in the indictment as someone who “intentionally collides with an 18-wheeler or other commercial vehicle” and causes an accident.
Gardner is accused of being a passenger in these staged crashes.
Garrison is accused of being a slammer and a “spotter,” defined in the indictment as the person who drove the getaway car after the staged crash.
According to the indictment, the wardens sometimes “posed as witnesses, issued warnings to commercial vehicles after staged collisions, and claimed the commercial vehicles were at fault.”
2019 court documents say Garrison began “covertly cooperating with the federal government,” and the indictment says Harris and Gardner tried to stop investigators from cooperating in exposing the plot. He claims he killed Mr. Garrison.
Garrison was found shot to death in New Orleans on September 22, 2020.
If convicted, Mr. Harris and Mr. Gardner face up to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, up to life in prison and up to five years of supervised release, and 25 years for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He will be fined $10,000. Witness tampering with murder, witness tampering with murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness with murder, retaliation against a witness with murder.
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