Ferrell sentenced to 15 months for defrauding business

Published 12:18 am Wednesday, May 12, 2010

BATON ROUGE — Former Natchez resident William “Ty” Ferrell III was sentenced last week to 15 months in prison based on charges that he defrauded a business of $100,000.

Ferrell, 41, of Gulfport, must also pay restitution of $104,000 and be subject to three years supervised release after his imprisonment.

When the crime occurred, Ferrell was a marine interdiction agent with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Email newsletter signup

“It is always a sad day when a member of law enforcement violates his oath to uphold the law,” U.S. Attorney James Stanley Lemelle said in a press release. “However, no one is above the law.”

Ferrell was arrested in October and accused of stealing approximately $100,000 from Double F Logistics LLC., a Baton Rouge company.

Ferrell was a co-manager of Double F. Logistics LLC, a company associated with Capital City Produce, Inc., in 2005-2006. He was director of operations.

Double F Logistics filed a civil lawsuit against Ferrell at the time of the arrest alleging Ferrell used a fuel and debit card paid by the company to make personal purchases.

The lawsuit said Ferrell had admitted to the purchases and resigned in 2008.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office press release says Ferrell collected the money through numerous transactions spanning approximately two and a half years.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Internal Affairs handled investigations.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ralph E. Tyson heard the case.