Mark Titus, right, exits Federal Court in New Orlerans with his attorney, Paul Villalobos, on Oct. 10. Titus posted comments about his case in the politics blog Slabbed.org. (Photo by Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
"The truth will come out, unfortunately for me I will (be) behind bars." Mark Titus
Criminal defense attorneys often advise their clients not to make public comments about their cases, fearing that a moment of candor could hurt their legal strategy. That didn't stop Mark Titus, a defendant in the River Birch landfill investigation, from posting comments about his charges on a local politics website recently.
Titus used his real name as he authored several comments on Slabbed.org, a blog about Jefferson Parish politics, disputing a few specific allegations from prosecutors and engaging on a brief back-and-forth with some commenters. Titus' attorney, Jimmy Ardoin, and Slabbed.org's founder, Doug Handshoe, confirmed this week that Titus was the author of the comments posted under his name.
Titus is set to begin a five-year sentence in a few weeks for his guilty plea to a conspiracy to commit mail fraud charge.
"I am not hiding behind any anonymous name like many of you that comment here on Slabb, but of course because of my current matters I am unable to really let loose and engage on what I would really like to say, hope ya'll can respect that," Titus began on his first comment Oct. 27.
He went on to dispute the government's characterization of some property transactions involving him and other members of his family. Prosecutors have portrayed the transactions as an effort to shield assets from possible forfeiture. Titus offered other explanations. He said the government's filing makes people "believe that I significantly encumbered my home." In reality, he wrote, he refinanced his home to reduce his mortgage from 22 years to 15 years and reduce his interest rate, "equating to a significant savings."
Referring to a line of credit on his home that the government also highlighted, Titus said that was an existing loan that was simply reissued after Hancock Bank bought out Whitney Bank. The line of credit, he said, "has a zero balance."
The Justice Department in Washington, D.C., which took over the case after U.S. Attorney Jim Letten recused his office earlier this year, got no love in Titus' comments.
"Upon their arrival one of the first things DC DOJ did was to accuse me of conspiring with Fazzio to orchestrate this whole thing and have it blow up," Titus posted, referring to River Birch landfill executive Dominick Fazzio, who is his brother-in-law. Prosecutors have accused Titus and Fazzio of a joint scheme to defraud a firm Titus co-owns. Titus and Fazzio have pleaded not guilty and awaiting trial.
"I think I remember reading some comment about having an interesting Thanksgiving dinner, this one wont be any different except mine will be in the roundbar hotel, Fazzio's won't," Titus wrote.
Titus also wrote that "the truth will come out, unfortunately for me I will (be) behind bars and have likely lost everything when it does. Despite the hardship along the way I have much faith in the Justice system."
Titus' online posts appear unlikely to get him in any hot water, except perhaps with his attorney, who didn't sound pleased about his client commenting about the case online.
"He did not consult me before he did it," Ardoin said. "But I don't see anything there that hasn't been said before."
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/mark_titus_discusses_river_bir.html
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