Harris, Duke plead guilty in Station 8 case
Two men pleaded guilty today to hiring a prostitute for an intellectually disabled man on or about June 14, 2013, at Fire Station No. 8 in Shreveport. One also pleaded guilty to cruelty toward a separate mentally challenged man.
Derrick Harris, 51, and Stuart Duke, 23, appeared before Judge Ramona Emanuel in Caddo District Court. Harris, a former fire captain, still faces a charge of terrorism and will return to court Monday.
He's expected to plead guilty to that count, according to Assistant District Attorney Dale Cox, who has said the state only will accept plea deals if Harris pleads guilty to all three of his charges.
Harris and Duke are the latest to admit guilt — a move said to allow the men to move on with their lives — in a string of cases tied to alleged misconduct within the Shreveport Fire Department.
The organization's former leader, Craig Mulford, who was terminated last month, still faces five felony counts of malfeasance in office.
Meanwhile, the ongoing investigation led by the Caddo DA's office, the FBI and the Louisiana State Police has progressed to an inquiry into what top police department officials knew about the alleged fire department crimes and how they handled the investigation.
Harris admitted to throwing smoke bombs in a fire station bathroom while an intellectually disabled man was inside. He's said to have turned off the lights and held the door closed so the man couldn't exit.
Harris is also accused of playing a role in handcuffing the man to a police car and taking pictures of him, and to giving the man a beer and encouraging him to drink it, knowing the intellectually disabled man was an alcoholic.
Neither Harris nor Duke were sentenced Thursday to jail time.
Duke, who is not an SFD employee, was on the premises when firefighters pitched in money to pay a sex worker to have intercourse with a mentally challenged man in a Station No. 8 bathroom.
Emanuel ordered Harris and Duke to give statements about their knowledge of the incidents to the DA's office and to testify truthfully in any related proceedings. They must each pay a $25 fine and submit to AIDS counseling. The men received suspended sentences of 30 days in jail and will undergo 90 days of unsupervised probation.
Duke entered a so-called Alford plea, meaning he maintains his innocence but concedes the evidence against him may result in a guilty verdict at a trial.
Harris was given a suspended sentence of one year at hard labor for his felony cruelty charge. But he will be under active supervised probation for a year and must pay $60 fee per month tied to his supervision. In addition, the judge is requiring him to receive sensitivity training related to intellectually disabled people.
"We worked out a good agreement," said Carl Franklin, Harris' lawyer, after the hearing.
Craig Smith, Duke's attorney, agreed the guilty plea was a productive resolution to his client's case.
Franklin is not representing Harris on the former captain's terrorism charge. Harris is accused of making threats on Facebook against his former colleagues and Central Fire Station July 10. He will appear in court again on Monday tied to those allegations.
Besides Harris, Randy Chandler is the only remaining former firefighter to face a charge of cruelty to an intellectually disabled man. His trial date is Dec. 8.
Former Fire Chief Craig Mulford, who is accused of malfeasance in office, and former Assistant Fire Chief James Thomas Carpenter, accused of perjury, are expected in court again Jan. 8, 2015.
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