ST. MARTINVILLE — Prosecutors have filed formal charges
against Henderson’s police chief and his assistant in an alleged illegal quota
system that offered officers $15 per traffic ticket along Interstate 10 as long
as the officers issued two tickets an hour.
Chief Leroy Guidry, 64, and Deputy Chief Oliver Mack Lloyd,
61, each face charges of public payroll fraud, malfeasance in office and filing
false public records, St. Martin Parish Assistant District Attorney Chester
Cedars said Thursday.
Guidry and Lloyd, both of whom remain in their jobs, were
arrested last year following a state Office of Inspector General investigation
into the alleged quota system — an investigation prompted by a complaint from a
former Henderson officer.
Cedars said his office has been reviewing the investigation
for several months and filed formal criminal charges this week, meaning the
prosecution will move forward.
The police chief did not return a message left at his office
Thursday, but attorney Warren Ashy, who is representing Guidry and Lloyd, said
his clients did nothing wrong.
“These are both career law enforcement guys who have never
been in trouble,” Ashy said.
The defense attorney also said that the chief and his
assistant did not profit from the traffic tickets.
“Neither one of those guys got a nickel,” Ashy said.
The inspector general’s report on the investigation noted
that the town of Henderson benefitted to the tune of about $2.4 million between
2009 and 2011 in fines and forfeitures, mostly from traffic stops.
That figure represents about 80 percent of the town’s annual
revenue for that period, according to the report.
Louisiana law forbids formal or informal quota systems under
which officers receive compensation based on how many citations they issue.
Henderson officers were not directly paid $15 per ticket but
rather the payment was allegedly reflected in enhanced hourly wages, with
officers expected to issue at least two tickets per hour in order to get paid
$30 per hour, according to an affidavit filed to support the criminal charges
against Guidry.
Officers could make even more money if they issued more than
two tickets an hour, but would be paid only $12.50 an hour if they issued fewer
than two tickets per hour, according to the allegations in the affidavit.
The affidavit states that Guidry allegedly told Inspector
General’s Office investigators that the enhanced payments served as a
“productivity” system to ensure officers were active while working under a
traffic safety program funded through a state-administered grant.
Despite the alleged statements that Guidry made to the
Inspector General’s Office investigators, Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette said
Thursday that officers were encouraged but not required to write two tickets
per hour.
“It was never pay-per-ticket,” said Collette, who added that
he fully supports the chief and deputy chief and believes they are innocent.
Ashy said a certain number of traffic tickets were needed
under the terms of the grant that was funding the enhanced traffic details, and
the chief was trying to meet those goals.
The pending charges do not affect Guidry’s position as chief
because is elected and cannot be forced to step down unless convicted, and
Guidry has the say over Lloyd’s employment.
If convicted, Guidry and Lloyd face up to two years on the
charge of payroll fraud and up to five years in prison on the charges of filing
false records and malfeasance.
