The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office claims defense attorneys for an indicted Sulphur businessman are alleging misconduct in an effort to keep prosecutors from pursuing charges.

Last week, attorneys for Joe Palermo filed a prosecutorial misconduct claim, which said Palermo was prosecuted only after refusing to pay millions of dollars.

The allegation is “outrageous,” prosecutors said in a response penned by Carla Sigler and filed Monday in state district court.

The accusation is “no more than a libelous and unsuccessful attempt to intimidate the State into dismissing a valid prosecution against this defendant,” the response reads.

Palermo, 70, has been indicted on charges of being in possession of stolen heavy equipment, forgery, and altering and removing identifying numbers of a motor vehicle.

Members of the District Attorney’s Office, the state Attorney General’s Office and state police raided businesses related to Palermo in Sulphur and Lake Charles on Aug. 20 as part of a separate investigation. Video poker violations are part of the crimes being investigated, District Attorney John DeRosier said.

The case has been heated, as defense attorneys claim DeRosier’s prosecution of Palermo is a personal vendetta.

“The State has grown weary of repeated and unfounded claims of wrongdoing being deceitfully alleged by the defendant,” the prosecution’s response reads.

It was the defense that sought a plea deal, the response reads.

The defense alleges that DeRosier initially asked for $5 million, then $1 million. A copy of an unsigned plea agreement, under which Palermo would have paid a $1 million fine, was included in its motion requesting the indictment be thrown out. DeRosier estimated that Palermo had received $5 million in ill-gotten gains, the defense motion reads.

“The parties appeared to have a meeting of the minds until the last minute,” the prosecution’s response reads, “hence the instant prosecution and an ongoing criminal investigation into other offenses committed by this defendant.”

Prosecutors say they were within the law to seek a large fine.

“Such monetary amends are lawfully authorized and indeed required under several involved statutes, and are undeniably appropriate given the extensive criminal activity for which this restitution was to give recompense,” the response reads.

The state also claims the allegations of misconduct are “also a thinly veiled attempt to entice or provoke the State into speaking about the collective evidence that it has compiled against this defendant.”(MGNonline)