By Mike Perlstein | WWL-TV | March 29, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO NEW ORLEANS — While Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson explained that her dismissal of four of her top executives was already in the works as part of a transition as she approaches the one-year mark of her time in office, one of those employees…
By Mike Perlstein | WWL-TV | March 23, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO NEW ORLEANS — This is Part 3 of “Room Service,” an ongoing investigation into the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s use of high-end hotel rooms for top commanders during Carnival. You can read the first and second parts here. Responding to criticism over the use of public money to…
Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana Wednesday, March 22, 2023 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MARVEL FRANCOIS (“FRANCOIS”), age 54, of Houma, Louisiana, was sentenced today for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising out of staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers occurring in New…
By Ken Daley & Natasha Robin | WVUE | March 22, 2023 CLICK FOR INTERVIEW NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A defiant Mayor LaToya Cantrell called an investigation into timesheet irregularities involving members of her executive protection team a “witch hunt,” and said she felt vindicated by the failure of a petition seeking to force her…
By Nick Chrastil | The Lens | March 22, 2023 Earlier this month, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams announced that he was going back on his campaign promise to never utilize or threaten to use the state’s habitual offender law, which can dramatically increase prison sentences for people who have been convicted of prior felonies.…
By Chris Nakamoto | WBRZ | March 21, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO BATON ROUGE – State corruption watchdogs, lawmakers and legal experts are questioning why Louisiana State Trooper Kaleb Reeves wasn’t arrested when he caused a crash that killed two sisters in north Louisiana in October 2020. It comes amid renewed outrage, triggered by a WBRZ Investigative…
By Rob Masson | WVUE | March 16, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The city’s independent Police Monitor says it will not investigate alleged missteps in the Jeffery Vappie investigation. That was after statements made by the mayor’s former security officer were sent to the city attorney’s office. The head of the…
Bu Paul Murphy | WWL-TV | March 16, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO NEW ORLEANS — A dog training company out of Vermillion Parish near Lafayette offered to cover nearly $20,000 in hotel expenses for top Orleans Sheriff’s Office commanders. Sheriff Susan Hutson thanked LAK9 owners Paul Leblanc and Lance Broussard. Broussard’s Facebook page showed Hutson…
By Arielle Brumfield | WDSU | March 16, 2023 CLICK FOR VIDEO Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams has invoked the habitual offender statute for violent offenders for the first time this week. The habitual offender statute is a tool Williams said he wouldn’t use, but now, more than two years into his administration, he’s…
Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana Wednesday, March 15, 2023 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – TROY SMITH (“SMITH”), age 58, of Houma, Louisiana, was sentenced on March 8, 2023 for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising out of staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers occurring in…