Posted on 10/09/2005 7:19:49 AM PDT by Crackingham
State authorities are investigating allegations New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars -- including 41 new Cadillacs -- as Hurricane Katrina closed in.
''It is a very, very active investigation,'' Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the Louisiana attorney general, said Friday. ``We expect developments quickly.''
Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty.
However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead.
Stead said the cars included 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets, 40 used cars, 52 customers' cars and a restored 1970 El Camino and 1966 Impala.
''We put the loss on new cars at $3.7 million,'' Stead said. ``The used cars ran another $900,000.''
When reports first surfaced last month that officers may have taken the cars, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said it was not considered looting because the officers patrolled in the cars.
''There were some officers who did use Cadillacs,'' Riley said. ``Those cars were not stolen.''
On Friday, police spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the department's only comment was that it was cooperating with the attorney general's investigation.
Police are also investigating 12 officers for allegedly looting or failing to stop looting. And about 250 police officers -- roughly 15 percent of the force -- could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.
http://www.looterguy.com/lootergallery1.htm
Won't be on the MSM until they can find a "witness" who saw Bush or Karl Rove handing out the car keys.
Wow, that's huge. Where did you park it?
If they were not returned to the dealership by now, they were stolen. And 200 of them no less!
However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead.
Police are also investigating 12 officers for allegedly looting or failing to stop looting. And about 250 police officers -- roughly 15 percent of the force -- could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.
___Before the storm? 250 of them abandoned post? Then I doubt very seriously if they were used for patroling.
I smell a huge cover up. Nothing will be done.Just like Ray Nagin. The city is/was and always will be filled with corrupt officials.
SOmeone will produce "papers" that were left behind stating the cops have the cars.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488010/posts
I remember seeing this guy interviewed on a local Baton Rouge station right after the hurricane when he went AWOL. I remember him saying when he went to get supplies in Baton Rouge at a Wal Mart, he saw several cars that he identified as being top brass for NOPD that had no business being there and should have been in N.O.
He said this triggered his AWOL decision.
Source: CommercialAppeal.com - Memphis, TN
By Mary Foster
Associated Press
October 8, 2005
NEW ORLEANS -- State authorities are investigating allegations New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars -- including 41 new Cadillacs -- as Hurricane Katrina closed in.
"It is a very, very active investigation," Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the Louisiana attorney general, said Friday. "We expect developments quickly."
Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty.
But the cars may have been taken even before the hurricane roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead.
Stead said the cars included 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets, 40 used cars, 52 customers' cars and a restored 1970 El Camino and 1966 Impala.
"We put the loss on new cars at $3.7 million," Stead said. "The used cars ran another $900,000."
When reports first surfaced last month that officers may have taken the cars, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said it was not considered looting because the officers patrolled in the cars.
"There were some officers who did use Cadillacs," Riley said. "Those cars were not stolen."
On Friday, police spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the department's only comment was that it was cooperating with the attorney general's investigation.
Authorities also are investigating 12 officers for allegedly looting or failing to stop looting. And about 250 police officers -- roughly 15 percent of the force -- could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.
Stead said he got a call Aug. 28 while evacuating the city, telling him one of the dealership's garage doors was open. The rest of his trip was spent fielding calls about his cars.
"I had eight calls from people in an hour saying they heard I was giving police Cadillacs to drive," Stead said. "It seemed like everyone knew about it, so I knew we were in trouble."
Stead said he got calls from people telling him they had seen his cars in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities with uniformed police officers driving them. He said people saw his cars parked outside a police precinct.
Keys to the new and used cars were kept in a locked box on the second floor, Stead said. The box was taken on a forklift to the third floor, where a blowtorch was used to open it, he said. For cars without keys, the ignitions were jimmied, he said.
Two new Corvettes were left in the street outside the dealership, apparently stalled out by the floodwaters and abandoned. The cars recovered so far have various amounts of damage, Stead said.
Because of the damaged garage doors at Stead's dealership, wind funneled into the building and a wall blew down, he said. "The sad thing is if the building hadn't been vandalized, there would have been no damage at all," the dealer said.
Last week, the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans reported that Sewell's location on Baronne Street didn't flood. Other dealerships were engulfed by quickly rising water following the levee breaks.
_____________________________________________________________
"I had eight calls from people in an hour saying they heard I was giving police Cadillacs to drive," Stead said. "It seemed like everyone knew about it, so I knew we were in trouble."
Stead said he got calls from people telling him they had seen his cars in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities with uniformed police officers driving them. He said people saw his cars parked outside a police precinct.
Keys to the new and used cars were kept in a locked box on the second floor, Stead said. The box was taken on a forklift to the third floor, where a blowtorch was used to open it, he said. For cars without keys, the ignitions were jimmied, he said.
Two new Corvettes were left in the street outside the dealership, apparently stalled out by the floodwaters and abandoned. The cars recovered so far have various amounts of damage, Stead said.
Because of the damaged garage doors at Stead's dealership, wind funneled into the building and a wall blew down, he said. "The sad thing is if the building hadn't been vandalized, there would have been no damage at all," the dealer said.
"I used the bags of money I took from the bank vault. The money was not stolen."
The new acting superintendent is already defending them--it is disgusting. These were officers from my district--arrogant, lazy, sleazy bunch.
Is it just me or wouln't it have more sense to steal a boat?
NO told Houston not to detain the people with NO police cars. Might have been Aaron Broussard's pump operstors.
If you're headed to 'Vegas, you wanna go with class, man. No need for boats.
"Lol. This gets better and better."
Doesn't it though? Long after the hurricane, the disaster known as New Orleans government keeps on giving.
At the West Side and Moonlite Drive-Ins as much as possible .
Cadallics are the preferred residences of the oppressed minority.
This sounds unbelievable. What kind of police force do we have? It sounds like we are in another country. What kind of morals do we stand for? If we want our country to be above reproach the police should too.
The government is elected by the VOTERS of the Big Easy. The buck stops with the electorate. They got exactly what they voted for.
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