It seems I owe Steve Pylant an apology.
I left him out of my book Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption.
Please know it was an oversight and was never an intentional slight of the former three-term Franklin Parish sheriff and current lame duck state representative.
Please consider this my feeble attempt to atone for that glaring omission.
After all, his voting record in the House was consistently that of a staunch law-and-order, lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the-key hard-liner.
Except, of course, when he decided to come to the rescue of four former meth felons caught with weapons in neighboring Catahoula Parish.
In case you may not remember that story I wrote last January, you can read it HERE.
But my reason for bringing him up again is not only to express my contrition for omitting him from the book.
My reason this time concerns a couple of incidents just a couple of months ago which might leave the mistaken impression that Pylant is still the high sheriff—or thinks he is.
Pylant apparently feels he has the right to attempt to enter private property and question occupants without a warrant or even a badge.
In fact, he seems to feel he can even brandish a weapon and force two women driving alone at 10 p.m. to pull over on a darkened Franklin Parish roadway.
April Franks says she and her friend, Amber Conley, were stopped by Pylant and a man named Steve Drane, 50, of Gilbert on the night of Oct. 16. “It was a dark road,” said Franks, who said she believed Pylant, who was waving a gun, was drunk. “[He] grabbed the door window and slammed his pistol against it, telling us we could not leave.”
Drane was one of four convicted felons for whom Pylant secured a $90,000 property bond to spring them from jail in Catahoula Parish in December 2018. Another of those arrested for hunting on private property in Tensas Parish on that occasion was Michael Linder, whose brother, Bryan Linder, was—and still is—an employee of the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Department.
Each of the four men had prior drug convictions as well as other assorted convictions spread among them and each was armed at the time of the arrests even though convicted felons are prohibited by law from possessing firearms.
None of which deterred Pylant from stepping in to conduct his own traffic stop despite lacking the proper credentials to do so.
“He had no right to pull us over,” Franks said. “He and Steve Drane were sitting in a curve 200 yard from where we pulled out – right past the boat landing they had been watching us from for two hours. He was in the middle of the road waving his hands in the air and was holding a pistol. We had no choice but to stop. Amber, my friend, was driving and thought they must need help …. that was not the case at all. In the video I sent you he (Pylant) is saying he didn’t ‘point the pistol as us I had it in the air.’ He was visibly and audibly drunk that night.”
Franks said she subsequently called the police department and “told them some man stopped us with a pistol and was drunk and they told me that there was already an officer out there to talk to him.
“A few days later, I went to get a copy of the police report and (Deputy) Bryan Linder (brother of Michael Linder) took me to his office, acted like he was looking for it and then told me that he didn’t have one, that he doesn’t require his officers to write up every little call and if I didn’t like his response, I could go across the hall to (Sheriff) Kevin Cobb’s office and talk to him.”
No record of a report of a man waving a gun and pulling motorists over in the middle of the night? Seriously? That begs the question of just what would a person have to do to generate an incident report? Once, when I was running police beat for the Baton Rouge State-Times, I saw an incident report of a “deceased chicken.”
Cobb, of course, was Pylant’s chief deputy before succeeding his former boss as sheriff.
The traffic stop by an unauthorized individual brandishing a weapon (drunk or sober) would be bad enough but just minutes later, Pylant and Drane appeared alongside a houseboat on the Tensas River owned by Frank’s friend Amos “Gene” Kenney of Gilbert.
Pylant, claiming he smelled meth cooking. Kenney responded that he was running trot lines and was cooking only beans on his boat.
Pylant then referred to another boat in the river, indicating the smell was coming from that direction. “It may be,” Kenney said, “but that ain’t my boat. This is my boat here and I’m cooking a pot of beans.”
Pylant insisted on searching the boat but Kenney demanded to see a search a warrant, which, of course, neither he nor sheriff’s deputy Brandon Boxx, who eventually showed up on the scene, happened to have on them. When Franks alluded to Pylant’s pointing a pistol at her car earlier, he denied it, saying, he was holding the pistol “in the air.”
At one point, Pylant said to Franks, “I’m gon’ tell you, baby, you piss on somebody’s foot…” Without completing what almost certainly was a profound thought, he switched gears, telling “Baby”, “I been in law enforcement for 30 years. I was sheriff here a long time.”
Pylant, harking back to his glory days as sheriff of Franklin Parish, boasted, “I was sheriff here a long time. I been retired eight years. I been in the state legislature.” Claiming he knew what meth smells like, he said, “I took the first meth lab down in northeast Louisiana in 1996 and I know what it smells like.”
Then he said, “I’m interested in seeing what we gonna find on that houseboat out there ‘cause I done seen y’all go back and forth out there twice.”
“We were on a trot line,” Franks protested.
“Naw, you wasn’t on no damn trot line,” Pylant said. “Somebody’s probably still in the houseboat.”
“I hope so,” Franks said. “Then there won’t be any question.”
“Well I heard y’all get out and get on it and ever’thang,” Pylant said.
After more back and forth accusations and denials, Franks said, “Well, I’m not going to argue with you…”
“There ain’t no need,” Pylant said, sounding like a true southern redneck sheriff that he seemed to think he still was. “It’s a damn shame,” he said, “a damn shame.”
I couldn’t have said it better, Rep. Pylant.
The folks in House District 20 must be so very proud.
And folks dare wonder why our legislature is so dysfunctional?
For your viewing enjoyment:
Louisiana Voice 
Good lord!
Are you kidding me Terri??? You with your initial comment and every one since has been the DEFINITION of “he say she say”. You weren’t there to witness one thing first hand that you spoke of. You ARE the one spreading lies.
I do NOT have pending meth charges are you stated. The only way you could have known that the LSP wrote his report up wrong is to have Read my personal file because it was redacted. Crazy thing is Steve Pylant said the same thing Oct 16th when he bullied and harassed us. Glad to see you wrote that down in black and white for me.
You can write back and forth and spread vicious lies about Gene And myself like y’all have been since the incident OR you can watch the videos and see it for yourself!!! I got everything video taped. The FPSD doesn’t even have a report.
Grafts Lies Corruption??? A monument to corruption?? Appears to be a monument to lies lies and more lies for sure!!! Tom it seems you would do a little more research before you go bashing people. You know like get some truth to add to your articles!! YES you do owe Steve Plyant an apology which I am sure he will never receive! Oh and by the way…..he is a four term sheriff not three. And these meth felons you refer to. Yes they have a past so do you and everyone else who lives. But have you taken the time to see who they are now?? They paid their debt to society and did their time. Today they are productive members of society. They work, pay taxes own homes have families, grandbabies just like you!! So let me move on to another subject…hunting on private property?? These guys have been hunting on that property for several years WITH the property owners. They were invited that day and the nephew that invited them was a no show. So let’s run with it! Everyone else want to tell their side with all this he said she said bullshit. Let me give you some more of it. Since it appears you like that better than the truth….April Franks? Did you check her out? Did you find that she has pending meth charges?? Or the fact that the house boat they were staying on belongs to some one else? They just went and took over the mans house boat and he had to hire a lawyer and is in the process of having them evicted? Oh but let’s not forget the other house boat that they were caught on belongs to me! And they were not invited…so was she not trespassing?? Isnt that breaking the law?? Brian Linder and Kevin Cobb?? Two of the best law officers I know! But you just had to do some more bashing because why?? It makes you feel good?? You could step up to the plate and give them both an apology too! But I’m sure they will never get one!! Now that my friend is a DAMN SHAME!!
Good job Tom, I have great fun memories of the Tensas, How is telling the truth bashing?? Times have really changed, I suggest you apologize but cross your fingers so the lie won’t count ron thompson
My whole point was it is not all true! So much of it was he said she said. If some one tells a story why not tell it all? Not just one side or just some of the truth. Tell all the truth! Now that would be a good job!
Not entirely “he said, she said.” I have audio of the encounter on the houseboat. I tried to include it in the story but was unable to do so. Basically, it boils down to a civilian trying to act as a lawman…and a civilian should not be waving a gun and stopping motorists on a dark country road at 10 p.m., something Pylant admitted to on the audio. I’ve included a video of the encounter. You can’t tell much from the video itself, but the audio is pretty interesting.
Terri,
This is April Franks and I would like to tell you a few things about the TRUTH. The things you would not know because you were not there. When people like you speak about what you did not witness first hand is the DEFINITION of “he said she said”. You know the whole little rant full of lies and a few facts that you stated randomly….. thats he said she said. I will not be a part of your back and forth because I was not only the one being harrassed I was also the one VIDEO TAPING IT ALL!!!! That is truly the only way to see the whole truth. Damn sure wouldnt be from someone with your criminal background and connections to Steve P.
Steve Pyl, Kevin Cobb and Brian Linder DESERVES and APOLOGY BAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA Did they do their job? Well I guess you could say that Steve P was doing one of their jobs because it wasnt his. Steve P and Steve Drane were both visibly and audibly drunk in the many videos I have of them I have their little side conversations when they thought we couldnt hear them I have Steve P saying to Gene “Make no mistake of it I am the one who called them and I am man enough to tell you”. Well yall “make no mistake I am the one who sent this to Senators, Representatives, Governor, President, NBC, ABC, FOX NEWS, Ethics Board, Department of Justice Ethics committee, Dept of Parole and Probations, and a lawyer….I am woman enough to tell you that I also added your additional comments to T Aswell on this sight. You, Terri, have said things that were completely untrue like me having “pending meth charges”. T Aswell this is that story. I was pulled over a few months back and the LSP officer wrote my charge down incorrectly, which took my bondsman to call the OCC and get it corrected, and it was redacted from my booking sheer. The LSP had to correct the “production of meth” to the misdemeanor of “possession of Marijuana “, The charge was dropped to an attempt to possess and it was payed. Now to the fact that not only Terri brings that up (glad to know that)but the videos will show that Steve p brings up me and my “production of meth” to anyone who would listen that night over and over At the end of one of the videos Steve P says “Oh yeh I read it in the Justified paper”. Well l will tell you Terri (this is called first hand info) that the information yall have could have only been obtained by reading my personal record (the unredacted version). I was wondering how Steve P knew that about me before he even came to the boat ramp with Steve Drane and decided to get drunk and harrass me That shows that he had planned this whole thing – preconcived is the word we are going to use, before he ever saw me. I will check in on with how can see it and who has pulled up my personal file because they also track that. I also only recently went to court for those charges so it hasnt been too long. That is UNACCEPTABLE and AGAINST the law. I will check in on that .
I was also under the impression that felons were not suppose to be drinking or around firearms or people with firearms….. Terri since you are so up to date on the law isnt that right??? Steve D, who was trespassing the night he was with Steve P harrassing and making false accusations drunk and with loaded firearms, was also trespassing on private property. Since he is friends (what an odd friendship) with the sheriff that busted him for MANUFACTURING METH I guess the law is different for him Isnt your and Steve D houseboat now parked on the extremely over paid for land right at the boat ramp that is now owned by Steve P. The same river that the 4 METH FELONS got busted WITH WEAPONS ON THEM ( ILLEGAL) TOGETHER ( ILLEGAL) and the tresp may be what you say with the nephew but the fact they had weapons on them and felons are not suppose to be together is enough to put any other FELON in jail for a long time. Terri you are the one who stated in your rant the fact that they did have weapons and were together. That should have been mandatory parole revocation and no bond set, bet youre glad yall are such good buddys with the law (official and unofficial).
Unlike you Terri I WAS THERE and it is a DAMN SHAME that people like you keep running their mouths about things they know nothing about and people like Steve P Kevin Cobb and Brian linder are NOT following any oath they took, It is also a DAMN SHAME that Brian L told me he doesnt make his Dept write up every little thing about every little call
X sherif Steve P (drunker than 2 indians and with a felon Steve D) calls
Sheriff Kevin Cobb calls
Dept Brandon Boxx (narcotics) who calls
Officer Mike Jones (narcotics) to bring an illegal boat on public waterway
who carries Steve D to his boat to inspect of “hidden meth” (he is a former manufacturer of meth”
who harrasses innocent people and kick and stomp all over their constitutional rights – one of which has contributed to many of their campaigns
EVERYONE except Gene is involved in all the back and forth conversations with Kevin Cobb and Brian L
and they dont have a report???? Well worry none I DO HAVE VIDEOS OF IT ALL.
Terri thanks for the things you put in writing….. I forwarded them with my videos to the above mentioned places I am also going to check on that houseboat of your firends Didnt your friend recently file bankruptcy and get a check in – does his bankruptcy contain the houseboat he claims is and has been his since 07?? Thats something I wasnt going to get into until you decided to get online with all your lies and try to bully me and speak on business that is NONE of yours.
Birds of a feather flock together .
My family lives on this river hill. They have lived there in complete peace until Steve Pylant started hanging around. What makes an old man want to mess with a family doing nothing but minding their business in the country, fishing? Is his idea of fun—getting drunk and calling the cops on his future neighbors? Weirdo.