PORT ALLEN - Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in the trial of Robert and Thomas McCormick on money laundering and malfeasance charges. A judge will decide if the brothers are guilty of stealing state funds from the Office of State Fire Marshal during a time of emergency. 

Daniel Wallis, a part-time employee in the State Fire Marshal's office, testified that in 2020, he served with the fire marshal's office as deputy secretary of arson investigation and inspection. During emergencies, Wallis served as an incident commander for emergency response.

Wallis testified he never directed Robert McCormick to purchase emergency supplies from a company his brother Thomas was involved in.

“I would have reported it to [former State Fire Marshal] Butch [Browning],” Wallis said.

He also said he did not know of the conflict of interest until it was brought up during the investigation. Wallis said he had never met Thomas McCormick.

“The information I was getting was that no one was getting water,” Wallis said. “In the state warehouses, we certainly didn’t have any water.”

Wallis said he spoke to Dean Smith, another fire marshal's office employee, about bringing in third-party groups to help acquire supplies. Wallis said it was Smith who told him about the water supply.

Smith served as a deputy commander for the fire marshal during emergencies. Smith supervised section chiefs. Smith said Kyle Piercy was a procurement chief who answered to him. Smith said Robert McCormick answered to Piercy. Smith also said he was unaware of water accessibility problems during storms because it was not his job.

Smith said he did not remember if McCormick used Smith’s LaCarte card, a state-issued credit card, for purchases. Smith also said he paid an invoice and was unsure whether Robert McCormick or Kyle Piercy asked him to, but said he paid it at the direction of Browning and Wallis.

Smith said he met Thomas McCormick and one of McCormick's lawyers in person for a civil suit discussion. Smith said he is suing the fire marshal's office for defamation of character after he was fired from his job. He said the McCormick brothers' criminal case was related to that civil suit but he had no recollection of what was discussed during that meeting. Smith also said he did not know his wife Stacy Smith accepted a $4,000 check titled “settlement” from Thomas McCormick’s law firm and said McCormick never represented his wife.

During the cross-examination, Smith said he supervised Robert McCormick during non-emergencies. Smith also said it was Kyle Piercy and Nathan McCullom who brought Thomas McCormick’s involvement with Westside Services to his attention, but said both Browning and Wallis gave him the go-ahead to continue to do business with the company.

Ricky Roubique with the fire marshal's office testified that said when he learned of Westside Services and the brother's connections, he took the information to two fire marshal's office employees: Smith and Ruel Devillier. Roubique also said he passed the information along to his immediate supervisor Erin St. Pierre. During emergencies, part of Roubique's job was to keep a facility clean and supplied for hundreds of urban search and rescue (USAR) personnel who came to aid Louisiana in rescue and recovery efforts. Roubique said he got a call from Thomas McCormick when McCormick learned his services were no longer being used. Roubique referred him to Robert McCormick.

Piercy, also a former fire marshal's office employee, served as a logistics section chief during emergencies and was responsible for taking in supplies requests from USAR units and deciding whether those requests needed to be filled. If the request was granted, Piercy said he sent the request to Robert McCormick, who was in charge of procurement. Piercy said he made calls while trying to procure bathroom trailers, but did not make calls to procure ice or water. Piercy said he did not know Thomas McCormick's last name when he first started working on acquiring services from him, but learned it during the four years they did business together. Piercy said Thomas McCormick initially used a different last name.

"He answered the phone as Thomas Alvin," Piercy said.

Piercy said he believed the owner of Westside Services was a man named Bernard Christmas. Piercy said when he saw discrepancies on the invoices for bottled water during Hurricane Laura, he raised the issue to his supervisors. Piercy's testimony about the use of LaCarte cards was contradictory. He first said Robert McCormick asked him to make some purchases on his LaCarte card for ice and water and said during emergencies fire marshal's employees were allowed to lift some LaCarte restrictions. In later testimony, Piercy said restrictions are not allowed to be lifted on LaCarte cards during emergencies.

Erin St. Pierre, the former deputy chief of specialty services with the fire marshal's office said she oversaw regulatory licenses for the office. St. Pierre testified that she exchanged e-mails with another Chantelle Brant, another fire marshal's employee. St. Pierre said Brant told her that Robert McCormick told her there were no conflicts of interest with any of the businesses involved with the fire marshal's office. St. Pierre said she did a quick look at business filings on the Secretary of State's website and saw Westside Services has Bernard Christmas listed as the business owner.

"Based on the Secretary of State's website, I didn't see a McCormick," St. Pierre said. St. Pierre said she relayed that information to Browning.

St. Pierre, an attorney, said it is an ethics violation to contract with a relative with financial interests.

[Robert] would have committed an ethics violation and possibly malfeasance," St. Pierre said.

The state also called Candy McCormick, Thomas McCormick's wife to testify. She invoked spousal privilege and did not answer questions.

The trial resumes Wednesday at 9 a.m.