By: Ken Daley | fox8live.com | April 14, 2025
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The city’s Civil Service Commission found Monday (April 14) that Mayor LaToya Cantrell improperly infringed on the promotion of high-ranking New Orleans Police Department officers last year in a specific effort to benefit Lt. Sabrina Richardson.
The commission noted Cantrell’s refusal to answer questions on the matter — invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a March 2025 hearing — and said it came to its conclusion of improper interference based upon “the preponderance of evidence.”
“Considering the totality of the important questions which Mayor Cantrell refused to answer, the commission enters the following adverse inference against Mayor Cantrell,” the commission wrote. “If Mayor Cantrell had answered the questions posed to her … her testimony would have been adverse to her; namely, that the September 2024 promotional freeze put in place by Superintendent (Anne) Kirkpatrick, as mandated to her by the mayor, was without legal justification and was done for impermissible, politically motivated reasons to the attempted benefit of Lt. Sabrina Richardson.”
Richardson previously led the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau, which was investigating allegations of payroll fraud and an improper relationship with Cantrell by the mayor’s former NOPD bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie.
Richardson later was demoted and suspended for 119 days by the department after a Fox 8 Lee Zurik investigation showed instances of “double-dipping” — claiming to be working both an NOPD shift and a secondary employment detail job at the same time. Richardson has failed to regain her previous rank of captain.
The Police Association of New Orleans (PANO) and the Black Organization of Police (BOP) alleged that Cantrell ordered Kirkpatrick to halt the promotions of high-ranking officers to the ranks of captain and major by alleging bias in the process once she learned Richardson was not being promoted.
The petitioners alleged “blatant infringement” by the mayor and claimed the city violated state law requiring merit-based promotions and proscribing political discrimination against classified employees.
Cantrell was subpoenaed to testify about the allegations, but asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions at the March 14 hearing.
The commission pointed out that the city’s Home Rule Charter authorizes “a penalty more severe than an adverse inference” when a city employee invokes Fifth Amendment protection before the commission.
Section 8-113(2) of the Home Rule Charter specifies that if a city employee “shall refuse to testify or answer any question relating to the affairs or government of the city or the conduct of any officer or employee of the city on the ground that the testimony or answers would tend to incriminate the party called to appear or testify … the party shall forfeit office or position and shall not be eligible thereafter for appointment in any position in city service.”
The mayor’s press office issued a statement saying it “respectfully disagrees with the the findings.”
“While we recognize and respect the commission’s important role in upholding civil service rules and procedures, the city remains firmly committed to maintaining a fair, transparent, and merit-based process,” the unsigned statement said, “one that fully complies with legal standards, departmental policy and the consent decree.”
The commission’s report said Richardson ranked eighth on an NOPD list from which two candidates were being promoted to major and two others to captain. It said Cantrell blocked Kirkpatrick from proceeding with promotions based on that list, alleging institutional bias specifically affecting Richardson’s standing.
The commision concluded, “The mayor’s vaguely expressed concern about bias regarding the captains’ promotion process … turned out to be totally unfounded.”
The commission wrote that, “Kirkpatrick testified that the mayor improperly wanted her to promote solely from the Civil Service eligible lists. Disregarding the NOPD composite score ranking would have been clearly in violation of the federal court’s consent decree; something Kirkpatrick stated she refused to do.”
When Kirkpatrick told officers last October that she was not going to make any promotions to major or captain, “she said Mayor Cantrell was the boss and she was going to do what her boss wanted,” and that “she was not in control of the situation.”
Promotions of some of the officers eventually went through on Feb. 17. Precious Banks and Lejon Roberts were promoted from captain to major, and Rebecca Gubert and Samuel Palumbo Jr. (who ranked first and second on the NOPD composite list) were promoted from lieutenant to captain.
Richardson remained at the rank of lieutenant and no longer is assigned to the PIB.
The NOPD issued a statement Monday that said, “We respect the authority and oversight of the commission. The NOPD remains committed to maintaining a promotional process that is fair, transparent, and in full compliance with the Civil Service rules, the consent decree and departmental policy.
“Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick has consistently prioritized integrity and adherence to process, and the department will continue to uphold these standards moving forward.”