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Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

Is Terrebonne Sheriff Larpenter steering deputies to buy logoed shirts from fellow employee? One deputy says yes

Posted in Business, Corruption, Ethics, Politicians on August 24, 2017| 4 Comments »

Louisiana Voice made a couple of public records requests of Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter for records of purchases made from businesses owned by two of his deputies, purchases that would constitute a violation of state ethics laws governing public employees doing business with agencies for whom they work.

A 1995 opinion by the State Ethics Commission addresses just such a scenario (CLICK HERE). It says that the owner of Fire Apparatus Specialties, who also serves as Assistant Fire Chief of the Third District Volunteer Fire Department in Jefferson Parish, purchased equipment from his company on behalf of the fire department in violation of state ethics laws.

In all, there are more than 80 opinions by the Ethics Commission that address various schemes in which agency heads or employees sold goods and/or services to their agencies—all of which are violations of the law.

In Terrebonne Parish, Brent Hidalgo and Douglas Chauvin, Jr. are sheriff’s deputies.

Hidalgo also owns Promotek, LLC, a screen printing and embroidery company in Houma that sells specialty items like shirts, caps and mugs with company and organization names imprinted on the product.

Douglas Chauvin, III, owns First Circuit, LLC, an electrician firm in Bourg, Louisiana.

PROMOTEK, LLC Limited Liability Company HOUMA Active

 

Previous Names
Business: PROMOTEK, LLC
Charter Number: 41228919K
Registration Date: 7/16/2013

 

Domicile Address
226 EXETER RUN
HOUMA, LA 70360

 

Mailing Address
226 EXETER RUN
HOUMA, LA 70360

 

Status
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: Not In Good Standing for failure to file Annual Report
File Date: 7/16/2013
Last Report Filed: 2/3/2017
Type: Limited Liability Company

 

 

Agent: BRENT HIDALGO
Address 1: 226 EXETER RUN
City, State, Zip: HOUMA, LA 70360
Appointment Date: 7/16/2013

 

Officer: BRENT HIDALGO
Title: Manager
Address 1: 226 EXETER RUN
City, State, Zip: HOUMA, LA 70360

 

 

Name Type City Status
FIRST CIRCUIT, LLC Limited Liability Company HOUMA Active

 

Business: FIRST CIRCUIT, LLC
Charter Number: 36559236K
Registration Date: 10/9/2007

 

Domicile Address
140 TYLER CHRISTIAN DRIVE
HOUMA, LA 70343

 

Mailing Address
C/O DOUGLAS J. CHAUVIN, III
140 TYLER CHRISTIAN DRIVE
HOUMA, LA 70360

 

Status
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: In Good Standing
File Date: 10/9/2007
Last Report Filed: 9/19/2016
Type: Limited Liability Company

 

Registered Agent(s)

 

Agent: LAW OFFICE OF PHILIP A. SPENCE, L.L.C.
Address 1: 7706 MAIN STREET
Address 2: SUITE 201
City, State, Zip: HOUMA, LA 70360
Appointment Date: 5/2/2017

 

Officer(s) Additional Officers: No 

 

Officer: DOUGLAS CHAUVIN, III
Title: Manager
Address 1: 140 TYLER CHRISTIAN DRIVE
City, State, Zip: HOUMA, LA 70360

LouisianaVoice received reports that the sheriff’s department purchased all its shirts, with logos of the department, from Hidalgo’s firm and that Chauvin’s electrical company had performed work for the sheriff’s department despite prohibitions of employees or their immediate family members from doing business with an agency that employed them.

A public records request for any payments made to the two firms or to Hidalgo or Chauvin directly resulted in a response from Larpenter that said in part, “…this office has never paid anything to Brent Hidalgo or any of his family members, representatives or employees or Douglas or Doug Chauvin or any of his family members, representatives or employees.”

Fair enough, Sheriff. That seems to be a reasonable and timely response.

Except….except…well, one of your deputies says you may be back-dooring the purchases—at least insofar as Hidalgo is concerned.

The deputy, who for obvious reasons must protect his identity, says that Larpenter’s deputies are required to personally purchase any shirts they are required to wear but that they are directed to Brent Hidalgo as the vendor and that Hidalgo handles all such transactions.

That’s a pretty gray area. A 2011 Board of Ethics opinion, (read it HERE) quite clearly says, the owner of just such a specialty company who also was a member of the Covington City Council “would not be prohibited from selling products with the city logo, through his company, to city employees so long as the city employee pays for such products with his or her personal funds.”

That seems cut and dried but the key word is directed, as “directed to Brent Hidalgo.” It would seem as long as the purchases are 100 percent voluntary, Hidalgo and Larpenter would have no problem with Hidalgo’s selling shirts to deputies. But if our deputy is accurate in saying they are directed to purchase from Hidalgo, then what we would seem to have is an implied contract between Hidalgo and Larpenter.

That same 2011 opinion also says the council member would be prohibited from using the employees of the City of Covington “as a channel to enter into a transaction with his agency.”

Some may call this distinction an example of splitting hairs, but if deputies are in fact directed to Hidalgo by Larpenter, that does present an entirely different scenario than that represented in the 2011 opinion.

Perhaps the sheriff will address this in the special staff meeting he has called for tomorrow (Friday).

 

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Legislative Auditor is unsung hero of Louisiana government but findings of irregularities are often ignored by authorities

Posted in Audit Reports, Auditor, Boards, Commissions, Corruption, Education, Ethics, Finances, Fraud, Governor's Office, Higher Education, Media, Politicians, Recovery School District, State Agencies, Transparency, Waste on August 24, 2017| 6 Comments »

The most recent audit (August 2017) of the Foster Care Program of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) found that:

  • DCFS did not conduct proper criminal background checks on non-certified foster care providers;
  • DCFS allowed nine certified providers with prior cases of abuse or neglect to care for foster children during fiscal years 2012-2016 without obtaining required waivers.
  • DCFS does not have a formal process to ensure that caseworkers actually assessed the safety of children placed with 68 non-certified providers.
  • DCFS did not always ensure that children in foster care received services to address physical and behavioral health needs.
  • State regulations require DCFS to expunge certain cases of abuse or neglect from the State Central Registry, which means those records are not available for caseworkers to consider prior to placing children with providers.

(See the DCFS audit summary HERE.)

So, the question now is this: What steps will the state take to protect these children now that the Legislative Auditor has pointed out these serious deficiencies?

If the results of a 2012 audit of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development’s Enterprise Zone Program is any indication, then the answer is nothing.

Under state statute, Louisiana’s Enterprise Zone (EZ) program is designed to award incentives to businesses and industries that locate in areas of high unemployment as a means of encouraging job growth. (The summary of that audit can be viewed HERE.)

That audit found that:

  • Approximately 68 percent of the 930 businesses that received EZ program incentives from the state were located outside of a designated enterprise zone. These businesses received nearly $124 million (61 percent) of the $203 million in total EZ program incentives during calendar years 2008 through 2010.
  • Approximately $3.9 billion (60 percent) of the $6.5 billion in capital investment by businesses receiving EZ incentives was located outside a designated enterprise zone.
  • Approximately 12,570 (75 percent) of the 16,760 net new jobs created by businesses granted EZ incentives were located outside an enterprise zone.
  • Four other states with which Louisiana was compared exclude retail businesses from EZ incentives. Louisiana does not, allowing such businesses as Walmart to take advantage of the incentives.
  • None of the four neighboring states allows businesses to count part-time employees among the new jobs created. Louisiana does.
  • Louisiana state law prohibits disclosure of the amount of incentives received by businesses.

Little, if anything, has been done to rectify these deficiencies in the oversight of the EZ program.

There has been precious little reaction from this year’s audit of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries which found that thousands of dollars in equipment had been stolen, a story LouisianaVoice called attention to last year. Go HERE for a summary of that audit report or HERE for our story.

Some remedial steps have been made in addressing a multitude of problems exposed in a 2016 audit of the Department of Veterans Affairs (See audit summary HERE).

Yet, we can’t help but wonder where the oversight was before a critical audit necessitated changes. Among those findings:

  • Payment of $44,000 to a company for improperly documented work without the required contract.
  • The use of $27,500 in federal funds specifically earmarked for the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell for the purchase of a Ford Expedition for the exclusive use of headquarters staff.
  • The failure to disclose information of potential crimes involving veteran residents at several War Veteran homes.
  • The possible falsifying of former Secretary David Alan LaCerte’s military service as posted on the LDVA website.
  • LaCerte’s engaging in questionable organizational, hiring, and pay practices that led in turn to a lack of accountability.

Likewise, some positive steps have been taken in shaping up the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) trusty oversight programs but that resulted as much from a thorough investigative report by Baton Rouge Advocate reporters as a 2016 audit (see HERE) that found:

Because the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola’s trusty policy, 1,547 (an astounding 91 percent) trusties at Angola were not eligible for the program and even after the policy was revised, 400 (24 percent) of 1705 trusties were ineligible. All 400 were considered by DOC to be eligible as a result of having an undocumented, implicit waiver for a sex offense or time served less than 10 years.

Equally troubling, the audit found that 14 of 151 (9 percent) of trusties assigned to work in state buildings in Baton Rouge were not eligible because of crimes of violence, including aggravated battery, manslaughter, and aggravated assault with a firearm. The report further found that if those 151 were required to comply with the requirements in place for Level 1 trusties, 49 (32 percent) would be ineligible.

Indicative of the monumental waste brought about by the proliferation of boards and commissions in state government, a 2017 audit (see HERE) of “Boards, Commissions, and Like Entities) noted that the number of boards and commissions had been reduced from the 492 in 2012 to “only” 458 in 2016. Texas, by comparison, has 173, Mississippi about 200. The appointment of members of those boards and commissions take up a lot of time as the governor’s office supposedly vets each new member.

Four boards did not respond to the auditor’s request for data in 2017 and 2016.

There were 11 inactive boards which were not fulfilling established functions, five of which were also inactive the previous year.

Some of these boards, as illustrated on numerous occasions by LouisianaVoice, often go rogue and there seems to be no one to rein them in. These include the Louisiana State Police Commission, The Louisiana Board of Dentistry, the Auctioneer Licensing Board, the State Board of Cosmetology, and the State Board of Medical Examiners, to name but a few.

Take, for example, the 2016 audit of the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission (see HERE):

  • The commission did not have adequate controls over financial reporting to ensure accuracy.
  • The commission did not comply with state procurement laws requiring contracts for personal, professional and consulting services, failing to obtain approval for contracts for two vendors totaling $80,000.

The point of this exercise is to call attention to the one office in state government which, with little fanfare and even less credit, goes about its job each day in attempting to maintain some semblance of order in the manner in which the myriad of state agencies protects the public fisc.

The Legislative Auditor’s Office, headed by Daryl Purpera, performs a Herculean, but thankless job of poring over receipts, contracts, bids, and everything related to expenditures to ensure that the agencies are toeing the line and are in accordance with established requirements and laws regarding the expenditure of public funds.

Thousands of audits have been performed. We pulled up only a few random examples: there are others, like the Recovery School District, the Department of Education, Grambling State University (only because it has so many audits with repeated findings), levee districts and local school boards and parish governments. Untold numbers of irregularities have been uncovered—only to be largely ignored by those in positions to take action against agency heads, who, because of political ambitions, allow attention to be diverted from their responsibilities of running a tight ship.

In cases of egregious findings, the media will jump on the story, only to allow it to fade away and things soon return to normal with no disciplinary action taken against those responsible.

If all elected officials and members of the governor’s cabinet were held accountable for their sloppy work or the outright dishonesty of their agency heads, it would send a message throughout state government and this state might well save hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted expenditures and theft.

It calls to mind the lyrics of a 1958 Johnny Cash song, Big River, recorded when he was still with Sun Records:

“She raised a few eyebrows

And then she went on down alone”

Through it all, Purpera and his staff trudge ever-onward, raising a few eyebrows and then continuing (alone) to do their jobs even as those above them do not.

They—and the taxpayers of Louisiana—deserve better.

 

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Two Fire Marshal deputies conducted Crowley homicide investigation in 2012 despite lack of experience, training

Posted in Corruption, Ethics, Fraud, State Fire Marshal on August 22, 2017| 16 Comments »

With the revelation by LouisianaVoice that 10 employees of the State Fire Marshal’s (SFM) office applied for waivers from Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) investigator training, backed up by dubious claims of investigative experience, new and serious questions have arisen into the investigation of a 2012 fire in Crowley that killed a mother and her 11-month-old daughter.

Twenty-two-year-old Marie McDonald and her 11-month-old daughter Bayleigh Holland, died in a fire that swept through their rent house at 2:30 a.m. on June 12, 2012 only four hours after McDonald’s ex-boyfriend had exited the house, according to Theresa Richard, McDonald’s mother, who owned the house.

“The boyfriend had threatened her at her work earlier,” Richard said. “All her co-workers heard him.”

The fire marshal’s investigation was a cruel joke, she said. “The entire investigation lasted about an hour. Keith Reed and Brant Thompson came to the scene and stayed about an hour before coming to our house to tell us the cause of the fire was undetermined.”

She said Reed had an arson-detection dog in his truck but never removed him from his truck. “I told them about the threats and they were just more or less indifferent about it,” Richard said.

Both Thompson and Reed were among 10 fire marshal employees to file for the POST Homicide Investigator Training Waiver last December 13, just two weeks before the January 1, 2017, deadline after which time “only peace officers who successfully complete the homicide investigator training program or receive a waiver of compliance based on prior training or experience as a homicide investigator shall be assigned to lead investigations in homicide cases.”

On his application, Thompson, who had been with the fire SFM for only seven months at the time of the fatal Crowley fire, indicated he had been a lead homicide investigator for 20 years and had investigated more than 100 homicides as either a lead investigator or a supervisor.

His previous experience the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and the attorney general’s office before that would seem to cast serious doubts on his investigatory claims.

Reed, on his waiver application, indicated he had served as a lead homicide investigator for eight years and that he had been lead investigator on four homicides. Presumably, the investigation of the Crowley fire, conducted at a time when he had been with SFM for only three years, accounted for two of those investigations.

REED HOMICIDE WAIVER REQUEST

But an audio recording of radio exchanges between the Crowley police dispatcher and Reed would seem to indicate that Reed was reluctant to respond to the fire in the first place, complaining instead that his supervisor would not answer his phone.

“When the fire marshal’s office did respond, I saw only Reed,” Richard said. “I was told that Thompson was there but I never saw him. Reed came and looked around for about an hour. He collected no evidence whatsoever. He never turned over a single board.

The police radio recordings indicate that a vehicle similar to the one driven at the time by the sister of McDonald’s former boyfriend was observed driving back and forth in the area of 1008 East 8th street, McDonald’s address. The actual report of the fire begins at the 6:20 point of the police recording.

You can listen to the police radio conversation HERE.

So, what it appears here is that two employees of the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal who had only four years’ experience between them and one of whom was never actually seen, conducted a one-hour investigation of a double-fatality fire following a reported threat to one of the victims.

And given the request for a waiver of investigator training by both employees who, judging from the apparent urgency in obtaining the waivers, were lacking in both experience and training to conduct homicide investigations, their “investigation” is of dubious merit at best.

Yet, there they were.

One of them, at least.

For an hour, anyway.

As the arson-detection dog remained in the truck, never setting foot on the ground.

Making a determination that the fire was of an undetermined origin.

 

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Brant Thompson’s homicide waiver application contained no supporting documents; application filed just before deadline

Posted in Corruption, Ethics, Exemptions, Fraud, Governor's Office, State Fire Marshal on August 22, 2017| 4 Comments »

More information on Brant Thompson’s back-door waiver application for homicide investigator reveals that because he had no homicide investigator training, he was up against a deadline for the granting of the waiver that would allow him status as a lead homicide investigator.

The application he submitted, signed by his boss, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning, claimed Thompson had worked as a homicide lead investigator for more than 20 years and that he had worked more than 100 homicide investigations as either the lead investigator or as supervisor.

Both numbers are suspect in light of Thompson’s apparent lack of both training and certification in his past work experience with the attorney general’s office, six years at the Department of Revenue and his five years at the State Fire Marshal’s office—none of which involved his participation in any active homicide investigations.

The application instructed that applicants “attach a list of ALL training, dates, and locations relevant to homicide investigation training” and to “attach copies of the training certificates or documentation of attendance at these courses.”

LouisianaVoice then made a public records request to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement for copies of those certificates.

Bob Wertz, Law Enforcement Training Manager, replied by email, “There were no documents responsive to your second request. No training dates and/or locations were attached to the original waiver request for Mr. Thompson.

Wertz then referred LouisianaVoice to Act 152 of the 2015 legislative session which says, in part:

“…On and after January 1, 2017, only peace officers who successfully complete the homicide investigator training program or receive a waiver of compliance based on prior training or experience as a homicide investigator shall be assigned to lead investigations in homicide cases…” (Emphasis Wertz’s).

Wertz said all waivers are reviewed by the Homicide Curriculum Committee and that recommendations are made to the POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) Council. The curriculum committee, comprised of board members of the Louisiana Homicide Investigations Association, advise the council and make recommendations regarding any waivers.

“While the POST Council issues a certificate for completion of the lead Homicide Investigator training course, no investigators are deemed ‘certified’ by the council,” he added.

Browning signed off on Thompson’s application on December 13, 2016, or just 18 days before the January 1 deadline, thereby conveying upon Thompson the status of lead homicide investigator even though he is apparently lacking in experience and training for the position.

In addition to Thompson, nine other State Fire Marshal employees received homicide waivers. They were:

Captains Chris Anderson, Keith Reed, Nicholas Heinen, Chad Robichaux and Brian Mashon and Senior Deputies Jason Johnston, Kristen de la Bretonne, Ronnie Sellers and Travis Goudeau.

In all but Anderson’s case, Browning, just as he had done for Thompson, signed the waiver request forms on December 13, 2016. He signed Anderson’s request form three weeks earlier, on November 23, 2017.

At least most of the nine were sufficiently creative as to not all claim 100 homicide investigations–except for de la Bretonne; she did claim 100 investigations, 35 of which she claims to have been the lead investigator. But she had worked Hurricane Katrina, including Lafon Nursing Facility of the Holy Family where there were 36 deaths and the St. Rita’s Nursing Home where 32 perished, according to one of her former co-workers. As for Goudeau, he apparently encountered a mini-crime wave in Bunkie where he previously worked as a patrolman for the city police department. He claimed four homicide investigations, serving as lead investigator on three.

Click here for HOMICIDE WAIVER REQUEST FORMS

The designations are apparently part of Browning’s grand scheme of cross-training whereby all employees are classified in all facets of the fire marshal’s office that in other states are separated as specific areas of expertise such as boiler inspections, amusement ride inspections, arson investigators, nursing home and hospital inspections, etc.

Browning was forced to rush the waiver requests through before the impending January 1, 2017, deadline because, apparently, none of the ten met the criteria that went into effect on that date.

The cross-training program has come under harsh criticism by those familiar with inspections and investigations who are either still active in or retired from the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Their primary concern that cross-training in each area of fire marshal operations weakens all disciplines and leaves the Fire Marshal’s Office prone to key mistakes that in turn leaves the office and the individual employees vulnerable to civil and criminal liability.

And while the example is extreme, the diffusion of responsibilities among all employees could conceivably create a repeat of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City in which 146 workers, mostly teenage women, either burned to death or plunged 80 feet to their deaths to escape the flames that engulfed the building.

News reporter William Shepherd, who just happened to be walking past the building when he noticed smoke, described a “more horrible sound than description can picture,” the impact of 62 speeding human bodies smacking into the sidewalk. “Thud-dead, thud-dead, thud-dead…” he would write for United Press as the only way he could describe the scene of broken, twisted bodies.

Investigators found that even though the Triangle building had passed fire codes prior to the fire, several doors in the building were either jammed shut or locked in order to ensure that the girls stayed at their jobs. Trapped in a building that had passed inspections, they were forced to choose death from the flames or by jumping.

Again, an extreme case but yet an example of what can happen when an amusement ride, a boiler or hot water heater, or a nursing home or hospital is given a once-over inspection by someone not properly trained as an amusement ride inspector, a boiler inspector, or a hospital/nursing home inspector.

And on top of all that, Browning wants those trained as fire code inspectors, ride inspectors and boiler inspectors to double as cops investigating homicides.

This is a situation that begs for the immediate attention of the governor’s office.

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Fire Marshal’s Office fortunate in having ‘Kojak Columbo’ Thompson as grizzled ‘Lead Investigator’ for inspiration

Posted in Corruption, Ethics, Legislature, Legislators, State Fire Marshal on August 21, 2017| 12 Comments »

How well did the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement vet the application of Louisiana Fire Marshal Fire Chief Brant Lamar Thompson’s application for a training waiver that qualifies him as a certified homicide investigator for the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal (SFM)?

The answer, according to the commission’s Law Enforcement Training Manager Bob Wertz, is it didn’t.

That’s because the only thing the commission goes by is the application submitted by Thompson and signed off on by his supervisor, in this case State Fire Marshal Butch Browning.

While Thompson’s qualifications for certification as a homicide investigator are iffy at best, a little trickeration and massaging of the rules may have slipped him past requirements put in place to ensure qualified personnel occupied top administrative posts at the Office of SFM.

Thompson has worked for the fire marshal’s Office since June 20, 2011, first as Deputy Chief of Investigations until his promotion to Fire Chief on June 16 of last year. Along with his promotion went a 31 percent pay increase, from $95,500 to his current salary of $125,000 (Browning, at the same time, received a 32 percent pay bump, from $104,000 to his current salary of $137,500, without benefit of a promotion.)

Around that same time (June 27), former State Rep. Bryan Adams, a former Terrytown fire chief, left the legislature and began work at the fire marshal’s office for $120,000 per year, an indication of how SFM administrators received pay increases and high salaries while rank and file employees have gone for years without raises. Adams later resigned.

He worked for the Louisiana Department of Revenue (DOR) from February 7, 2005, until June 3, 2011. From January 30, 2006, until August 15, 2010, and from November 23, 2010 until June 3, 2011, as Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC). For the three months between stints at that position, he worked as Assistant Secretary of DOR.

Brant Thompson:

Begin Date End Date Agency Job Title Biweekly Pay Rate
06/16/16 Present DPS-Office of State Fire Marshal Fire Chief $4807.70 (6/16/16 to present)
6/20/11 6/15/16 DPS-Office of State Fire Marshal Deputy Chief-Investigations $3672.00 (7/1/15 to 6/15/16)

$3530.40 (10/1/13 to 6/30/15)

$3394.40 (6/20/11 to 9/30/13)
6/4/11 6/19/11 RESIGNATION
11/23/10 6/3/11  

DOR-Office of Revenue

 ATC Deputy Commissioner $3394.40 (11/23/10 to 6/3/11)
8/16/10 11/22/10  

DOR-Office of Revenue

 Assistant Secretary $4148.00 (8/16/10 to 11/22/10)
1/30/06 8/15/10  

DOR-Office of Revenue

 ATC Deputy Commissioner $3394.40 (8/7/09 to 8/15/10)

$3264.00 (8/7/08 to 8/6/09)

$3138.40 (8/7/07 to 8/6/08)

$3017.60 (7/1/07 to 8/6/07)

$2960.00 (8/7/06 to 6/30/07)

$2846.40 (1/30/06 to 8/6/06)
2/7/05 1/29/06  

DOR-Office of Revenue

 Executive Management Officer 2 $2640.80 (8/7/05 to 1/29/06)

$2538.80 (2/7/05 to 8/6/05)

In none of those positions did he ever conduct a homicide investigation.

Prior to going to work for DOR, he did work for the Attorney General’s office during the investigation of the Baton Rouge serial killings, an investigation that led to the arrest of Derrick Todd Lee.

Thompson, however, was not the lead investigator for that case. That distinction was held by the late Danny Nixon.

Yet, on his waiver application, he answered “Yes” when asked if he’d worked on a homicide investigation and he entered “20 years” when asked how long he had worked as a homicide investigator.

And while the accuracy of those answers is something of a stretch, the answer to the next question is dubious at best. To the question, “…approximately how many homicide investigations has the officer worked as an investigator,” he indicated more than 100.

On question 4, “Has the above officer worked as the LEAD investigator in a homicide case?” Thompson answered “Yes.”

On the next question, “…how long has the officer worked as a LEAD homicide investigator?” Thompson indicated more than 20 years.

Finally, in pushing the envelope, he again indicated more than 100 as “Lead and/or Supv.” to the question, “…approximately how many homicide investigations has the officer been assign as LEAD investigator?”

He’s has conducted more homicide investigations than Columbo and Kojak combined.

The application was initialed by Butch Browning on December 13, 2016.

BRANT THOMPSON WAIVER REQUEST

Besides the veracity of his answers on the waiver request, Thompson barely qualifies for his position as Browning’s second in command and then only by the process of selective appointment and promotion.

R.S. 40:1561 lists the requirements to hold the position of Fire Marshal, among which are:

A college degree or a minimum of 10 years’ experience in the fire service with five of those years as a district chief or higher position or chief of a fire prevention bureau or equivalent experience;

At least two years’ experience in management and personnel supervision;

Have been continuously engaged in the fire protection field for at least five years.

R.S. 1562 says the fire marshal may appoint a first assistant who “shall have the same qualifications as are required of the state fire marshal.” (Emphasis added.)

While Thompson does not have 10 years in the fire service, he does have a college degree and Browning may have gotten around the requirement of being engaged “in the fire protection field for at least five years” by first appointing Thompson as Deputy Chief-Investigations for (ahem) five years before elevating him to the second highest position at SFM.

But the cold hard facts are he has never worked a homicide. A source at the attorney general’s office said he was assigned only to review cold cases, which is a far cry from investigating a homicide. Nor has he ever even been the lead investigator of a fire, much less a homicide. In fact, he has never worked a fire or testified in court about a fire.

While he may be certified as a fire “investigator,” all that is required for that designation is to sit through a short class presented by the National Association of Fire Investigators and to pass a Certified Fire Investigator exam.

And, of course, there remains that application for the homicide waiver signed by Browning, who by signing, was attesting to the truthfulness of Thompson’s answers…

Governor, are you paying attention? Do you really desire a repeat of the Edmonson debacle? Better yet, can you afford that?

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