Mermentau police chief, officer accused of looting T-shirt shop

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Mermentau police chief and an officer in his department are accused of stealing T-shirts, sunglasses and suede sports coats from New Orleans stores after they came to help police in the city, the state attorney general said Monday.

Bond was set at $35,000 each for Police Chief Jeremy Joseph LeBlanc and Officer Hollins Burt Trahan, each of whom was booked in New Orleans with malfeasance and two counts each of looting and felony theft, Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. said in a news release.

While in uniform, the two took suede and leather sports coats and a box of Ray Ban sunglasses from Saks Fifth Avenue and 23 T-shirts from the Jean Lafitte Gift Shop on Bourbon Street, the charges against them allege.

"It disappoints me that two law enforcement officers who were supposed to be keeping law and order allegedly took advantage of a dire situation and stole from the very businesses they were supposed to be protecting," Foti said. "My office will continue to investigate cases of looting and, if appropriate, arrest and charge those who we believe broke the law."

Foti said they were booked Friday in Acadia Parish as fugitives before being brought to New Orleans.

I have worked in Mermentau when working for the railroad years ago. It is a tiny villiage that has one small shipyard (which was building Casino Paddleboats) and a few fishermen.

Probably most of the people are populist, and would like to stick it to those "rich people". Another famous resident of Acadia Parish is 4 term Governor, Edwin Edwards (D-Crowley).

Oh yeah, he is currently in a Federal Prison in Fort Worth doing time for taking kickbacks for Casino contracts.

Hmmm....

The Mermentau police chief and an officer in his department are accused of stealing T-shirts, sunglasses and suede sports coats from New Orleans stores after they came to help police in the city, the state attorney general said Monday.

Now, if they came into town on short notice and somewhat unprepared, with all stores closed, they might need a pair of shades to do their job. They might even need a change of cloths. But suede sports coats in New Orleans??? It gets really HOT out there during September. That's where this gets tricky.

Of course, if I were a cop, and had to appropriate anything, I'd record such in my official logs and reports (which all cops keep), plus I'd post a note somewhere in the store, plus I'd follow-up to ensure the proprietor was reimbursed later on.

No doubt, these guys are as dirty as common thieves. I know Louisana is pretty corrupt politically, and the risk of police corruption probably goes up the smaller (and more fraternal) a police force and community is. I told my wife when the Hurricane was still inbound that a direct hit was going to be devastating, because Louisiana has been run "by corrupt Democrats for over 100 years". I new they couldn't run relief efforts competently.

The fact that Mississippi (hit as hard or harder than Louisiana) puts it's rebuilding costs at $13B, while Louisiana demands $250B in Federal assistance, is comical. (The fact that a Liberal-GOP led Congress was ready to immediately pony up, is both outrageous and sad.)

SFS

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.