Louisiana Voice

Allegiance Healthcare and CEO Rock Bordelon are busily weaving an intricate network of business dealings, some of which involve his network of medical centers and some which are totally separate and unconnected to each other.

Take for instance, one of those Ruston properties of Allegiance. It was recently sold at a sheriff’s sale for unpaid taxes of nearly $19,000 to a resident of Alabama with no obvious ties to either Bordelon or Allegiance.

Yet, that building, purchased by Becky Walding of Hoover, Alabama whose professional background consists of working for an Atlanta-based gas and a multi-regional electric utility out of Chicago what builds, buys and manages transmission assets.

Yet, less than a month following that sale, the building, located at 1402 Celebrity Drive in Ruston has reopened as…(wait for it) Allegiance Medical Clinic Northside Family Practice.

Meanwhile, barely two months after Monica Adams was appointed CEO of North Louisiana Medical Center (NLMC), she resigned “for personal reasons.” She had been brought into the Ruston facility from the Bordelon-owned Winn Parish Medical Center in June.

The announcement by NLMC credited Adams as helping lead “significant operational and cultural improvements across NLMC and (Bordelon-owned) Green Clinic, though it’s somewhat puzzling as to what could have been accomplished in just over two months—especially considering inspectors with the Louisiana Department of Health’s Standards Section continue to find DEFICIENCIES at the Ruston facility.

More recently, the Ruston hospital is on diversion because of a lack of supplies, according to a staff member who said Bordelon is “running NLMC—and any doctor who’s trying to stay here for the city of Ruston—into the damn ground.”

That individual went further to say, “Rock is having to sell NLMC and actual bidding is going on between two out-of-town facilities.” The identities of the alleged bidders were not revealed but the whistleblower went on to say patients at NLMC “will be discharged and then will it be closed down?”

Bordelon, who also has a hunting- and fishing-themed TV show has posted video of his exploits in Colorado and Florida—even as his medical empire of some dozen hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana are struggling financially. At the same time, the IRS has a $14 million tax lien against Bordelon

But a little further south, in the Avoyelles Parish city of Marksville where Bordelon owns still another hospital, a series of property transactions also present a curious mix of personalities that includes Bordelon, a newspaper publisher/legislator, an Alexandria realtor and a couple of other legislators and the quiet purchase of an entire lake and more than 140 acres of property adjacent to the lake, Lak Pearl.

A search of Louisiana Secretary of State corporate records reveals Bordelon as the sole officer of LAC PEARL, LLC. A clerk in the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse who claimed to be a relative of Bordelon’s said the lake was purchased by Bordelon for the purpose of converting it into a crawfish farm.

That purpose is questionable because of the online description of what makes the PERFECT CRAWFISH POND.

That post emphasizes shallow (as in only inches in depth), grassy (ideally, South Louisiana rice paddies) wetland that can be easily drained. Lac Pearl is neither shallow nor grassy or a rice paddy and the lake doesn’t appear conducive to easy drainage.

LAC PEARL (outlined in blue)

Proposed public park (outlined in red)

To give a perspective of the size of Lac Pearl purchased by Bordelon, the area outlined in red in the map above, represents a public park area adjacent to the lake which the Alexanderia investment group that purchased the 140 acres is proposing.

All that aside, there still have been no answers as to who Becky Walding is or what her connection to Bordelon, if any, might be. Likewise, there has been no indication from Bordelon as to the future of North Louisiana Medical Center, the status of which has been questionable since a state inspection team visited the hospital in July and found numerous shortcomings that threatened its credibility and its very survival.