Louisiana Voice

So much space is devoted here to the abuses of Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter that sometimes it seems that the shenanigans up in DeSoto Parish are being overlooked.

Not that events have not been covered up there but sometimes it’s necessary to go back and catch up.

This is such an occasion.

First of all, District Judge CHARLES ADAMS, who should have recused himself for obvious reasons, instead ruled that District Attorney Gary Evans was prohibited from investigating former Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle and his deputies in connection with the local LACE program gone bad. LACE is an acronym for Local Agency Compensated Enforcement, with a special emphasis on “compensated.” Under the program, state police and local deputies are paid overtime by the local district to assist in reining in speeders, drunks and other neer-do-well miscreants.

It is a program run amok, coming under investigation in a number of parishes, including DeSoto, Calcasieu, and Orleans-Jefferson. Those working LACE, in seems, find it difficult to restrain from fudging on their actual hours of work, resulting in more than a significant cost to hardworking taxpayers who put their trust in those behind the badges.

LouisianaVoice, in a cursory examination of 600 LACE tickets issued by DeSoto deputies, found that nary a one was issued to DeSoto residents. Zilch. Nil. None. Zero, as in not one.

But moving on, the DeSoto Sheriff’s Office is beset by other problems.

Arbuckle abruptly resigned in March of this year in the wake of the auditor’s investigation and was succeeded by Chief Deputy Jayson Richardson who had his name legally changed from Samuel Baldwin. He is now seeking the office full-time but is opposed in the upcoming special election by Mansfield Police Chief Gary Hobbs.

Not directly related to the election campaign is the matter of DeSoto Parish resident Ryan Jones. He was married to the sister and daughter of DeSoto Parish sheriff’s deputies. The couple had one child before their divorce and once divorced, the full fury of the sheriff’s office and Louisiana State Police were turned upon him non-stop.

Jones was subjected to arrests for DWI, extortion, and violation of a protective order. He was cited for various traffic offenses, one being stopping beyond a stop line (I’ve been teaching defensive driving to traffic offenders for 22 years and I have yet to have a single offender in my classes for stopping past a stop line), and for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. In each and every case, he was exonerated, sometimes by a grand jury, others by appearances before a judge. Deputies have entered his property, issuing orders of “Don’t move,” but left without making any arrest.

He was even featured on the DeSoto Parish Crimestoppers Facebook page as “Felon of the Week,” even though the only charges pending against him (later dismissed) were for misdemeanors.

Jones has filed a LAWSUIT against Arbuckle, Richardson, Monica Cason, the former sister-in-law who serves as Richardson’s deputy, and several other deputies. If half of his allegations prove to be true—those include at least 10 instances of arrests, traffic citations, traffic stops, and other confrontations—then the sheriff’s department would appear to be guilty of malfeasance in aiding two deputies’ relatives by initiating and carrying out a pattern of harassment.

And Jones was wise enough to file his lawsuit in Western District U.S. District Court in Shreveport instead of state court in DeSoto’s 42^nd Judicial District where it, like the LACE investigation matter, might be heard by Judge Charles Adams.