Feud between two St. Bernard titans heats up; allegations of bribes, murder cover-up traded

A bitter feud that erupted between two of St. Bernard Parish’s best-known citizens over the last decade has further soured recently, with one of them, developer Joe Georgusis, providing information for a televised report that questioned whether his onetime best friend, former Sheriff Jack Stephens, helped cover up the true cause of the 2005 death of Georgusis’s son, Joey.

Stephens is firing back with allegations that his old friend offered at least one bribe to help his cause.

Georgusis has long insisted his son -- whose death was initially ruled a drug overdose -- was murdered, though he has yet to persuade any law enforcement agency to charge anyone in his death. Georgusis has increasingly aimed his ire at Stephens, who sent two deputies to the scene at Joey Georgusis’s Lakeview home on Aug. 5, 2005, though they had no jurisdiction.

Stephens acknowledges his lack of jurisdiction and says he directed his deputies to go to Lakeview because Georgusis was his closest friend, and Stephens wanted to do everything in his power to help him. Stephens claims that Georgusis has turned that special attention on its head by insinuating the former sheriff was involved in a coverup.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/news/courts/article_708d1820-7dbe-11eb-8bda-f7545f2c272a.html