Name Stephen LaRoque | ||
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Stephen Alexander LaRoque was a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly. He represented the state's 10th House district, including constituents in Greene County, Lenoir and Wayne counties. A business owner from Kinston, North Carolina, LaRoque served three terms.
LaRoque was defeated in the May 2012 Republican primary by John Bell.
LaRoque was supposed to have redirected loans from the U.S Department of Agriculture to small business owners in rural areas with limited access to capital, instead he took $300K for himself. He was indicted by a federal grand jury "on charges that he misappropriated money from a federal program..." LaRoque resigned from the legislature in July 2012. He was convicted on 12 counts including theft, money laundering and filing false tax returns. (2013)
On August 1, 2013, two of the twelve counts were set aside by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Malcolm Howard, due to juror misconduct, and a new trial was ordered on those charges.
He was released in May 2017 after serving one year and nine months.