Following testimony that Louisiana State Police attempted to cover up details of the beating death of Ronald Greene three years ago, comes the news that one of the troopers who participated in the Greene beating and tasing was arrested in ANOTHER INCIDENT in Troop F involving the beating of a black motorist.
Dakota DeMoss, who was among the troopers who beat and tased Greene to death on May 10, 2019, was arrested, along with fellow troopers Jacob Brown and George “Kam” Harper. Body-cam video showed them pull Antonio Harris from his vehicle in Franklin Parish in 2020 following a high-speed chase and then pile onto him, kneeing, slapping and punching him as he lay face down with his arms and legs splayed after he had surrendered.
All this comes on the heels of revelations that cheating at the State Police Academy in 2019 was far worse and more widespread than LSP command staff admitted at the time and that cadets involved in the cheating are now patrolling Louisiana’s highways as full-fledged state troopers.
On Oct. 8, 2019, duty officers assigned to the 2019 cadet class conducted an inspection of cadets’ living quarters and discovered a “burner” cellphone in the room of cadet Senette Small. Cellphones are prohibited during cadet training and Small at first denied the phone was hers. She finally admitted it was hers and she gave the passcode to investigators who discovered that the phone contained texts to other cadets concerning test material and that it also included what “appeared to be an actual ‘legal test,’” according to a copy of investigative findings provided to LouisianaVoice.
“Legal” was one of about a dozen separate disciplines cadets’ study during their stay at the LSP academy.
“They (LSP command) tried to say it was only study material, but make no mistake, it was wholesale cheating,” said retired LSP Capt. Mark Richards, one of the duty officers who conducted the inspection that revealed the existence of Small’s phone.
“She (Small) said she got the test from another cadet (Christopher Sink),” Richards said, adding that both were immediately fired. Another source, also a retired trooper, said Sink was rehired.
The same unidentified source, who leaked nearly 350 pages of interagency communications regarding the cheating investigation, said eight other cadets who resigned or were fired were also rehired but Richards said the number was actually four who resigned and were rehired.
In a memorandum from Richards to Lt. David Ryerson, Richards said an inspection of the mobile data terminal (MDT) of cadet Michael Starling contained an online chat with his wife (all outside communications are also prohibited during the time cadets attend the academy) that said, “Just took the test…it was the same one I got from (Garrett) Yetman.” Richards wrote that Starling “appears to be referencing the ‘Domestic & Family Matters’ exam…”
Yetman would go on to become a full-fledge state trooper but would be placed on leave after being ARRESTED in February of this year for domestic abuse.
“When we first reported the cheating the Col. Reeves (former State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves), he was adamant about punishing everyone involved, even if it meant firing every cadet in the class (of 2019),” Richards said.
“But when we told him that the cheating likely went back five years or more and involved current road troopers, former cadets, he immediately softened his approach.”
Asked why that was, Richards replied, “You were correct that Reeves was afraid the legislature wouldn’t fund another class if the extent of the cheating was revealed. Plus, Reeves’s son had gone through the academy just a few years before – more than five years, but who’s to say his class wasn’t involved? Also, the LSP command had sons and stepsons and children of friends who had gone through the academy in that five-year period.”
This would include as many as 50 to 100 cadets who may have been members of what the Department calls “Legacy” classes (immediate family members of LSP command staff, supervisors and troop commanders, and prominent politicians), according to Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet, a retired state trooper. That could obviously creat a potentially explosive situation should it be revealed that any of those were involved in cheating.
Now, a little more than two years after the cheating was revealed, the intern who sources say stole test and Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) material, Tia Laverdain, is now a state trooper assigned to Internal Affairs (IA) and working under the supervision of her mother, Treone Laverdain. Their uncle is State Rep. Ed Laverdain (D-Alexandria).
Treone Laverdain was named, along with then-IA Commander Capt. Chavez Cammon and Master Trooper Kevin Ducote, as having conspired to cover up the Ronald Greene death at the hands of Troop F troopers. Treone Laverdain has since been promoted to the rank of major.
“I advocated terminating the entire class,” said Richards. “But I met opposition from LSP command and from legal. LSP’s executive legal counsel at the time, Faye Morrison even said of the cheating, ‘That’s how I got through law school.’ I was incredulous that she would say such a thing.”
A third LSP retiree said Richards was targeted by LSP administration dating back to the Mike Edmonson era. “The fact is Mark was one of the guys who was questioning all of the ethical silliness that Edmonson demonstrated in his last few years and it turns out he was correct to do so,” he said.
“They tried to isolate Mark and discredit his work and things didn’t get much better when Reeves came along. I suspect the administration’s handling (or mishandling) of the “cheating” scandal probably pushed him to retire.
“I was disappointed by every colonel I ever worked for over one issue or another, but despite those disagreements, they always managed make the necessary correction and stay an honorable course. Until now.
“It breaks my heart to watch this slow-motion train derailment. It didn’t happen overnight and it will take a couple of generations for trust to be restored. What started as an ethical erosion during Edmonson’s tenure evolved into something much worse under Reeves–the revelation of a rogue segment of the agency where arrogance and power became an operating norm. And everyone implicated in north Louisiana had one thing in common: they either were hired, promoted or supervised by Kevin Reeves. He is the common denominator, and I’m offended that his last comments to the committee taking testimony were not an acknowledgement of the tragedy of Ronald Greene’s death but rather that when he meets his maker, he will not have to account for participating in a coverup of Green’s death. Pardon me for questioning his faith, but where I come from, he’d be considered a hypocrite.”
Louisiana Voice 
This needs to go to the FBI/Dept. Of Justice and the Louisiana attorney disciplinary board.
One has to wonder if the State Police Commission is aware of this and, if so, what excuse they might have for looking the other way if they are doing so.
Oh, I can answer that one for you!!!!! Millet made DARN sure the LSPC was VERY aware of everything he was trying to substantiate!! I just want to provide the following link for everyone to see just how hard Millet worked to TRY to get the material (Note: The only edit I made was that I redacted the name of the cadet with whom Cammon was reported to be involved with.):
http://www.laboards-commissions.com/PRR_Millet_Academy.pdf
Millet made sure not only that the LSPC was aware but that half the world was aware. Let me copy and paste just one email he sent out entailing the matter:
From: Bucky Millet
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2021 4:43 PM
To: Jason Hannaman
Cc: Jim Mustian ; Robert Burns ; Metropolitan Crime Commission Inc. ; Matthew Block ; Chris Nakamoto ; Katie Moore ; devillierp@legis.la.gov; miguezb@legis.la.gov
Subject: Re: Public Records Request
Mr. Hannaman,
I can only assume by the above answer to my Public Records Request that my references to non compliance by the Commission and the State Police are correct. Specifically Rule 15.9 and 15.3 Personnel Action Forms. 15.9 states (a) The State Police Commission (SHALL) be the depository of the records of the Department and the Commission.
As I stated in my prior email the Commission has no way of knowing if the Department chooses not to complete an internal investigation or completes it and decides to cover it up:
1- Case in point, Cheating scandal
Apparently, from information I have, this goes back to 2015 (Cadet classes 95 thru 99. I have reason to believe that as many as fifty to one hundred cadets may have been in what the Department called Legacy classes. (Sons, Daughters, Brothers, Sisters, Political families and etc.) Apparently this may have been the motive to do only a cursory investigation and in my opinion a cover up.(TO BIG TO FAIL?)
Example: The Department may have looked at less than one third of class 99 cadets, phones and computers. Apparently the cheating involved Command staff and will be devastating if fully revealed.
I have recently received the attached letter from Mr. Robert Burns which speaks for itself and appears to give additional information as to the extent of the scandal.
Should the Citizens of Louisiana expect, THE TRUTH>THE WHOLE TRUTH>AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?
Leon “Bucky” Millet
I am so glad all this has come out because et. LSP Lt. Leon “Bucky” millet and I spent an ungodly amount of time right around this time last year engaging in exercises in futility! Millet tried tweaking his initial public records request six different ways from Sunday (and the sheer volume of what all he sought frustrated the daylights out of Morrison which was quite apparent in some of her responses to him) but, in the end, there was no way to obtain via “formal channels” what is obviously now readily available to some important and influential people. Kudos to all parties’ recent efforts to get this material out there as it certainly needs to be, and Millet and I were like hamsters running on the wheels in our cages last year and it was incredibly frustrating and we finally gave out from exhaustion!
The LSP upper level command is merely a reflection of what the current Governor is…….Arrogant, inept and Corrupt. He alone holds the authority to ensure that LSP is put back on course…….yet he sits back and doesn’t demand accountability. Why? I can only assume that his “Honor Code” never actually existed.
Do you remember that quiz show called “Name that Tune?” One feature was one player challenging another to name a tune in a certain number of notes. Finally, when a contestant felt the other contestant couldn’t do it, he or she would say, “Name that tune,” and the tune would be played.
I’m going to play the game now except for seconds of video. I can explain why Gov. Edwards’ tenure in office has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster regarding Louisiana State Police in a mere 10 seconds of video. Here’s that video:
Tom has been reporting on the various specific transgressions of LSP for many years now, but It just occurred to me that, from a broader POV, LSP has almost no oversight over local police, so what purpose does it actually serve??? Mostly, they’re just cops on the interstate. Why not get rid of this corrupt, rogue, nearly purposeless agency entirely? Let a portion of the DPS capital police serve as the governor’s bodyguard.
Or, perhaps, return state troopers to their original mission of highway patrol with responsibilities limited to enforcing traffic laws on state and federal highways. Check out at brief history on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_Police
Regardless of anything else, we need to eliminate the State Police Commission which should never have been created in the first place. LSP may have had enough bad publicity by now that the people would vote for the constitutional amendment necessary to do so if one of our lawmakers would introduce it and 2/3 of his fellows agreed to put it on the ballot. Lack of accountability is the main problem and the commission is not doing its part, nor is the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections who clearly defers to the Governor who has shown little interest in doing anything to make the organization better.
You certainly have plenty of company in that regard. Retired Lt. Millet has encouraged abolishing the LSPC, as has Lloyd Grafton (who submitted written commentary to the Senate Oversight Committee which Tom has previously published), Belinda Parker-Brown, and I even gave live testimony to the Senate Oversight Committee on LSP not long back about the futility and political hack nature of the LSPC.
So, momentum gained, and the next thing you know, Sen. Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge) was willing to sponsor a bill. Now, Stephen, you have FAR more knowledge of Legislative procedures and potential procedures than I. I have always gone on the presumption that, when a bill is destined to die, it merely never gets a hearing at the Committee to which it is assigned. As you will note from the following link, you’ll see that is certainly NOT what happened entailing Sen. Fields’ bill:
https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=22RS&b=SB239&sbi=y
Have you ever seen such? I took a screen shot of the page above just in case it is later asserted that the legislation never even existed!
Since his joint resolution proposed exactly what should happen, it is truly unfortunate that Senator Fields chose to withdraw it and, yes, I have seen bills withdrawn before. Needless to say, that is the end of it. It can’t be brought up because it no longer exists. There is clearly no resolve in the legislature nor in the executive branch to do what should be done with regard to the commission.
[…] has also been identified as one of the chief culprits of the massive LSP Academy cheating scandal that blogger Tom Aswell of Louisiana Voice has exposed on Friday, May 13, 2022. From that […]