First of all, let’s give credit where it’s due: Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Jim Mustian pulled off a major coup in securing and publishing the FINDINGS of the Legislative Auditor’s preliminary report of its audit of Louisiana State Police (LSP). The fact that the document is a draft and not the final document in no way diminishes the importance of the findings nor does it really matter how Mustian obtained it—except perhaps to Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.
Former State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson, who was subjected to withering criticism in the report, is livid that it was leaked before he had an opportunity to respond to its findings. He texted Mustian to say that by reporting the audit’s contents, “you will be negating my legal right to review. The process is for me to respond back to them first, not the media. Whoever furnished you with the report did so without the approval of the auditor’s office,” he said.
Purpera told LouisianaVoice that he is confident the leak did not come from his office because he tracks who has access to reports prior to their release. That would appear to narrow the premature release to someone within LSP. But appearances are misleading.
As the officials say during those college and NFL football games, upon further review, a WWL-TV newscast about the audit Friday may have inadvertently revealed the real source of the leak. If you go to the 40-second spot on this VIDEO, you will see a screenshot of the auditor’s Nov. 28 cover letter to….Edmonson. The only other audit copy went to LSP but that one did not contain the cover letter to the former superintendent.
That can mean only one thing: The audit report was leaked by none other than Edmonson himself—or by someone to whom he provided a copy of the report.
So, it would seem that his anger over the premature release of the audit is somewhat misplaced.
And the fact remains that had Edmonson not gamed the system to his and his family’s advantage, there would be no reason for him to find it necessary to exercise his “legal right to review.”
Edmonson, who many rank-and-file troopers refer to as “Precious,” said he was preparing a detailed response to the “lengthy” report and that he looked forward to “answering any questions after the release of the final report.” We can’t wait.
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a New Orleans watchdog group that monitors public wrongdoing, said the audit showed Edmonson to be “less the colonel of the State Police and more the Boss Hog of the State Police,” a reference to the popular TV series that ran from 1979 to 1985. He said the audit signaled “a day of celebration” for rank-and-file troopers who were aware of what Edmonson was doing to the organization and of his “self-serving decisions.”
Meanwhile, details that have come out of LSP headquarters about the manner in which Edmonson mixed personal and departmental business, accepted free hotel rooms and other services, and generally ran the department like his own fiefdom has gotten the attention of the feds.
“The Louisiana State Police has been and continues to coordinate efforts with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding this matter,” said Maj. Doug Cain, a State Police spokesman, in a statement to The Advocate and to LouisianaVoice.
U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson, of the Middle District of Louisiana, confirmed that his office “has been and will continue coordinating with State Police,” Mustian reported.
LSP Public Affairs Officer Lt. J.B. Slaton also said, “We continue to cooperate with the Legislative Auditor’s office. The department is currently formulating our response to the findings and recommendations of the audit. That response will be included in the final report and disseminated by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.” He said any further comment “would be premature and interfere with the Legislative Auditor’s standard procedures and directives to the department.”
So, what, exactly, does that audit report say?
Well, here are a few of the low points taken from Mustian’s story:
- He used a state credit card to purchase more than $7,000 in special meals without approval from the Division of Administration and without sufficient documentation to show their business purpose.
- He moved his family into the Department of Public Safety (DPS) compound “without legal authority” to do so, allowing taxpayers to pick up the cost of his utilities, including cable TV and electricity. Its formal name is the Residential Conference Center. It was constructed in 2002 and intended only to house the governor and State Police superintendent during emergencies such as hurricanes.
- He did not include his use of the residence, valued at nearly $435,000, as a fringe benefit on his federal form W-2 during the time he and his family resided there, from February 2008 (right after his appointment by Bobby Jindal) to March 2017 when he retired under fire from the now notorious San Diego TRIP. Auditors feel he should have paid taxes on the benefit but are uncertain if he did. Perhaps that’s one of the questions he will answer.
- He made a practice of requiring state troopers to transport his wife to various places: bar-hopping in New Orleans, gambling in Lake Charles, to the Baton Rouge airport, or to take his wife, mother-in-law and a friend to and from a Bob Seger concert in Lafayette. On one such occasion, troopers said they were ordered to escort Mrs. Edmonson and a friend to the French Quarter while they were wearing costumes that may have included parts of the LSP uniform.
- He procured complimentary hotel rooms in New Orleans for friends and family and even received improper reimbursement for them. He allowed friends and family to stay in extra hotel rooms that were paid for by the city of New Orleans and which were intended for troopers working Mardi Gras detail. He would receive multiple rooms in his name or the names of other troopers, the report said. He also received reimbursement from State Police for a hotel room in 2014 even though the city of New Orleans had reserved a room for him in a different hotel. In February 2015, he allowed two friends to stay in a Windsor Court suite that was intended for troopers. He admitted inviting the friends but said he thought they paid for the room. A friend of Edmonson’s said Edmonson booked rooms for him and his wife at Windsor Court on numerous occasions but that they did not know they were paid for by the city of New Orleans. In 2016, Edmonson obtained another room and Loews New Orleans Hotel for his stepdaughter and her friend that was intended for a trooper. Edmonson claimed it was an “extra room” that had been taken out of service because the air conditioner was broken.
- He annually received free tickets to the Endymion Mardi Gras Extravaganza. State law prohibits public servants from accepting anything of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or organization who has or is seeking contractual or other business or financial relationships with that public servant’s agency. Endymion paid LSP nearly $400,000 from 2013 to 2017 for security details.
- He received more than $6,300 between January 2014 and March 2017 as a daily allowance from LSP to pay for cleaning his uniform. Yet he used the dry-cleaning service at the Governor’s Mansion to clean his uniform and other clothing for free.
- He consistently failed to pay for his meals at the State Police cafeteria. While he told auditors it was possible during his tenure that he walked out of the cafeteria without paying for his coffee, the cafeteria manager said he failed to pay for his meals at least half the time.
- He ordered inmates to deliver food to his residence, used state resources to service his son’s jeep and his wife’s vehicle, and had prisoners cook, clean, and walk the family dog.
Those were some of the specifics. In general terms, the audit painted a portrait of a freeloader who was not above taking every handout that came his way, Mustian said.
Basically, most of the points covered are things the media knew—or at least suspected— Edmonson was doing all along, so the audit’s criticisms are really nothing new at all.
One LouisianaVoice reader wrote on Facebook, “Karma is such a good thing.”
Some have a different word for it.
“Precious”? Seriously? That’s what he’s called?
Well, not in an affectionate way…but yes.
Notice how silent the worthless OIG remains.
To quote the area FBI “SOMETHING BIG IS COMING”….. Hopefully that includes some dirty cops going to prison.
This sorry despicable, pile of worthless second hand thieving, poor excuse of a man should go straight to jail but I really doubt that will ever happen, because “Precious” probably still has some pull somewhere with the right person.
I just can’t believe that he did all these things for so, so long and never ever got
caught until now. Where were the people above him when he was doing all this?
Didn’t they know and if they didn’t then why didn’t they know and if they did know, why didn’t they do something about before now?
How can this thug hold his head high in the public knowing that he did all these things and that what he was doing was against the rules. What a jerk! I really love how he let his wife and step daughter splurge on the freebees also. Looks like they had a lot of good times in New Orleans on the taxpayers dimes.
Sorry, sad, greedy, despicable human being. His is not fit to wear any uniform much less a State Police uniform, the highest honored officers in the State.
Shameful, very, very shameful indeed!
Jail his despicable back side ALREADY!!!!
Thanks Tom, none of this would have surfaced had it not been for you, Lee Zurik, Jim Mustian and former Advocate Reporter Maya Lau for staying on this topic of corruption in LSP the last three years. So sad it took the Press to expose this corruption, and it did not come from the LSP Senior Command Staff fixing this illegal activity. I guess as long as Edmonson was paying, they were staying with their mouths shut!
The once premier law enforcement agency has been discredited by Edmonson and his inner circle. The hope of reform and removal of his inner circle MUST BE DONE for this agency to move forward.
Furthermore, the Agencies with oversight stood by and watched for nine years and did nothing. Specifically the OIG, AG, and up until this year the Legislative Auditors Office. It looks like the recent exposure of corruption will bring some criminal prosecution for those involved, at least let’s hope so.
Listen how Captain Duane Farmer of the Houma Police Department called citizens vulgar names when they filed complaints against police officers.
Farmer is asked to make an inquiry into an allegation of police misconduct reported by a woman whose husband was arrested at a DWI checkpoint that he was working. Farmer indicates he is familiar with the matter, and immediately says it is not a case. “We didn’t do anything,” an agitated Farmer says. “This pain in the a**, lying mother**** comes in here, she is a lying mother*** and got to go through all this bull**** when she is a lying mother****. (An officer) got to waste his time a week or two over a lying woman.” Both Farmer and Boquet discuss the potential of having the woman charged with a crime if she returns to tell her story and files a formal complaint, suggesting that a police car video will counter any claim. “Let her come in and file the complaint and, as soon as I get the video, she will be charged,” says Boquet. Donna Wedgeworth (Chief Secretary) is heard entering the conversation. “Glad you didn’t call them no bitches or whores,” she says.“We didn’t call the bitch a bitch,” Farmer says.
The recordings were given to the Houma Municipal Civil Service Board who conducted an investigation on Farmer. The investigator Raymond Miller of HUB Enterprises concluded within his investigation Farmer violated several policies. Miller indicated within his report The vulgar language expressed by Captain Farmer presents as his normal speech expressions. This is based on the ease at which the terms and words flow freely during the conversation. The board then convened and voted 3-1 that Farmer was not guilty of any misconduct with one board member resigning during the meeting. Farmer was then promoted and is currently the Asst, Police Chief and now oversees all operations of the department to include citizen complaints.
Many police civil service departments contain corrupt high ranking officers who has hidden behind civil service protection.
https://www.houmatimes.com/hpd-recordings-give-an-inside-look/article_ca61908e-7d2d-11e5-a4c3-f751278efcf3.html
https://www.houmatimes.com/news/hpd-recordings-still-in-limbo/article_8c39a5e2-7cd0-11e5-9df7-7f0f1d273aa5.html
http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20170318/interim-assistant-police-chief-criticized
Mr. Aswell, you are too much the gentleman to say so, but what you have done these past several years to expose Edmonson and his minions has earned you the right to say “I told you so!” We thank you.
Thank you, Tom Aswell. Let’s hope the same process will develop in this case that we are seeing in the Russia investigation, namely, that once threatened with charges by the FBI, Edmonson will begin to spill the beans on people higher up the food chain. If he felt comfortable getting away with all that has been revealed thus far, it can only be that he has evidence that the people who were supposed to be holding him accountable were doing much worse things. This is the main reason people want to cut taxes: not because they don’t believe that taxes are needed to pay for public services like colleges and roads, but because they know government is loaded with thieves.
You are so correct that those above him had to know what was going on and they covered it al up because they were involved too. They have skeletons in
their closet that they didn’t want exposed either without a doubt.
You are right about the tax issues also. People are tired of paying for the thugs to play.
God is preparing a special place in reporter heaven for Tom but I sure hope he doesn’t get there too soon though. He is so dedicated and passionate about what he does and we are all grateful to him for the great job he does always in exposing all these thugs. I don’t know what the people of Louisiana would do without him because no one else seems to care about what is going on in the
way of corruption in this State. The officials in charge sure don’t care because if they would, things would have never gotten this bad in the first place. They can’t get away with it anymore though, especially if Tom gets wind of it, because he is coming after them. You gotta love it that someone is so dedicated and passionate about what he does.
I think Tom has earned the name of “He is the Man” by now and I think when any public official, board member, etc. sees him they will probably want to run and hide because they will never know if this will be just a friendly visit or if they
are next on the list for exposure. Lee Zurik and Tom are running neck and neck in my opinion for a tie as to who is going to get you first and when they do, stick a fork in you, you are done! Now that is what I call an extremely good reporter, don’t ya think?
Amen to that!
Except for the “tax” question, I will defend Col Edmundson .RHIP and with Jindal,all of this is common business practices . I do concur that you are the man and I know this won’t go to your head. love always ron
Col. Edmonson reported to one person and one person only – the governor(s). We have to assume the head of state police is the most powerful person in the state (even the Governor, his ostensible boss) based on what Tom has relentlessly reported, and the MSM has recently chimed in on.
If nothing else, the feds will come after him for not paying taxes on the value of his perks – if he didn’t pay taxes on them – and that could cost him a chunk of change. We would also have to assume he will have some hefty legal fees unless he holds power over one or more attorneys and can intimidate them into defending him pro bono.
A possible side benefit to this publicity could be that some officials would worry that they might be caught doing the same or similar things and they might (emphasis on might) try to be a little less corrupt and free with the state’s allegedly tight money – And, I will triple down on what others have said about why people lack faith in state government and, therefore, oppose taxes by default, because they figure any new money will just be wasted on the kind of things they read about every day and/or see on TV.
Edmonson has, for sure, lied to suit the occasion and that seems to work fine for many people nowadays. There was a time when we thought it was cute that football coaches lied about their careers. Now, it seems everybody from the POTUS down lies with impunity about anything they choose and a lot of people not only think it is okay, but expect it. I already only believe about 25% of what people in power say and that is rapidly declining to zero.
I seriously doubt the state will go after Edmonson for anything. I wonder why nobody has asked our esteemed governor what he thinks about this? Not that he would be inclined to tell the truth either. Apparently, West Point values (if they still exist) are a distant and faded memory for him and most things his appointees do are fine and dandy with him – except serial sexual harassment by somebody who already had that track record – and which will now, according to today’s fish wrap enrich at least one private attorney, at the state’s expense, for years to come.
Tom, do you have Jim Mustain’s contact info? Email??
The Advocate article quoting Ronnie Jones (and that part alone) is a joke. Ronnie helped Mike along his way and is as corrupt as they come.
All of the Lt. Colonel’s should be replaced. I would say with the exception of Adam White, but alas, what’s right should be applied equally.
And Charlie should be fired with some reduction of pension. Most of DPS knows he’s the puppet master.
The rooster has doth come home to roost.
Cheers.
And excellent work Tom and all.
Go to my post and click on the word FINDINGS in bold caps and Mustian’s story will come up. His email address is at the top of that story.
One more thing. Anyone trying to loosen the lips of Mike’s girlfriends?? There are many. MANY. Me thinks a records request of his email may show some questionable behavior. You think he was only having Suzanne chauffeured?? Nope. There is a trail. Someone please follow it.
Right on Spencer. In light of the sexual scandals involving public figures let us see what starts to surface on Edmonson.. I am told the VIP suites at the Academy Dorms Charlie and Mike had each a room for such endeavors.
I am also told about a DWI stop by a Baton Rouge Policeman with a woman in Edmonson State Unit by a officer Martin with BRPD in the summer of 2016.
Let us talk about his two friends getting a helicopter ride on a state Helicopter from New Orleans to Baton Rouge Mardi Gras 2015. The Cinderella Project Folks.
How about Gratuities from gaming interest, and trucking interest. Get the orange jumpsuits ready.
Tarnished, I sure hope you are kidding us, right? This man couldn’t have been doing all this while wearing a State Police badge.
Note to self: Never, ever run into this sorry piece of crap any day soon because I don’t want to have to go to jail because I can’t stand someone like him wearing a badge and breaking just about every law known to mankind. Please Jesus, never let me meet this man in public.
As far as the Governor goes, he better get off his twat and soon and do something with this man or he can forget about getting his self re-elected again for Governor. I do have faith in Edwards to do the right thing though because he called for an investigation when this all came out but he has
to finish what he started and make sure that this thug gets just exactly what he deserves, some good ole fashion jail time and not in a special picked place either. He belongs with the rest of the thugs in a regular prison and should have to pay all restitution to the State and to everyone else he took something from and for everything he stole or misused by breaking the law and not one penny less!!!! I hope whoever is going after him, burns his butt to a crisp for what he has done.
In my opinion I don’t think he can ever be forgiven for doing such a disgraceful thing to this department. I know damn well, if I was a State Police officer, I couldn’t ever forgive him for what he has used and abused while he stood there with that chitty little grin on his face like he was all that. All we can
do is pray that he gets what he deserves and more as his punishment but we all have to remember this is still Corruptville, Louisiana and anything could happen when you know and ##ow the right people. I hope they make a good example out of him so that this never, ever happens again which will send a
warning to the next thug that comes along and thinks he can do the same.
That would be the only fair thing that could happen for the rest of the good, decent officers who always do the right thing every day and night when they clock in to work. Fair is fair and this case needs to set that in stone, otherwise they are just wasting good tax money on a piece of worthless crap that always thought he was all that and that would be more shameful than everything that he did to shame this department.
My personal issue with this thug is that he did the worst thing he could have
ever, ever done while his reign lasted: That being:
He disgraced the best law-enforcement agency in the State of Louisiana.
LOUISIANA STATE POLICE
The worst thing about all of this is that all the names Tom has mentioned with State police-Chris Guillory, Paul Brady (Troop D), Edmondson and the rest have or will retire with pensions over $100,000.00 for the rest of thier lives at our expense. They still come out of this smiling all the way to the bank. So they still win.
One can’t help but wonder just how high Edmonson would have risen had he chosen a life-of-crime, as opposed to heading up the Louisiana State Police.
Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on this to turn into a criminal prosecution. This is Louisiana after all, a state where the “fat man does the dancing, while the poor man pays the band”.