The FBI's investigation into a series of bribery and kickback schemes in Lafayette and Louisiana, dubbed "Operation Cajun Hustle," started with a tip that a Crowley businessman on contract with the Lafayette district attorney's office was shaking down defendants in the pretrial diversion program to make their charges disappear.

FBI supervising agent Douglas Herman, who led the investigation, spent three hours on the witness stand Tuesday in the federal trial of Gary Haynes, 67, an assistant district attorney hired by 15th Judicial District Attorney Don Landry to run the pretrial diversion program.

A federal grand jury in 2024 indicted Haynes on multiple charges associated with the scheme in which he and Dusty Guidry of Youngsville, a contract employee with the DA's office, allegedly stee

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