Report: Former clerk employee known as ticket fixer

Des Allemands woman charged with 23 counts of theft

A former employee of the St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court’s Office who was arrested and booked with 23 counts of theft was known as someone who could “take care” of traffic tickets for others, according to court documents.

Tina V. Bourque, 41, of 165 Martin Lane in Des Allemands, was booked last month with 23 counts of theft under $500, 33 counts of malfeasance in office and 33 counts of injuring public records.

The alleged theft first came to the attention of authorities after a woman informed police that she was told to pay Bourque $116 to get a speeding ticket taken off of her record. When the woman learned that her driving privileges were going to be revoked even after paying Bourque, she obtained a copy of her check and found that it was endorsed by Bourque, the woman said.

The woman had thought she was paying only for court costs associated with the ticket.

According to an arrest report filed with the case, the woman first contacted Blane Oncale, who she had heard had connections to get tickets taken off of a person’s record for insurance reasons. Oncale, in turn, told her that he had talked to “Tina” and that she needed to give him a check for $116, but leave the pay to the order section of the check blank, the woman said.

Authorities contacted Oncale and he told police that he is a truck driver who has been friends with Bourque for a number of years, the report said. Oncale said that Bourque would assist him with traffic tickets to avoid them going on his driving record, usually by paying court costs of $116. He said he had brought five or six citations to Bourque for friends and co-workers.

After the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office learned of the alleged theft, they sent out a press release asking other witnesses to come forward. Several did so, and said that they had asked Bourque to “take care” of tickets for them for a $116 charge. Some had even brought multiple tickets to Bourque, according to the report.

One witness even said that Bourque approached him and said that he had forgotten to pay a traffic ticket. The man told police that Bourque said he could pay about $240 and she would take care of it.

The man told police he paid her in cash.

According to authorities, Bourque would nolle prossed most of the tickets, which removed a warrant for the person’s arrest. However, the person still owed fines for the ticket in the court system. Nolle prossed means that the charges were dropped before a judge or jury could make a decision.

Anyone who may have sought assistance from the Clerk of Court’s Office for traffic citations for which they paid cash or were told to leave the payee line blank on a check, is asked to contact Lt. Donnie Smith or Sgt. Derek Pertuis at (985)783-1135 or (985)783-6807.