Sound Off Louisiana

Mona Hardin, mother of Ronald Greene, who was a guest on a Zoom meeting of the Louisiana ACLU of Monday, May 3, 2021 during which she shared her concerns about Louisiana State Police’s alleged murder of her son on or about May 10, 2019.

Yesterday soon after the noon hour, we received an invitation to a Zoom meeting transpiring at 6:00 p.m. CDT of the Louisiana ACLU Justice Lab.  We received the invitation from Ms. Belinda Parker-Brown, whom we’ve frequently provided a forum at Sound Off Louisiana for her and her organization, Louisiana United International, to air concerns about allegations of “predatory policing” and prison conditions in Louisiana.

We attended the Zoom meeting, and we’d like to share with everyone what the meeting was touted to be about.  From our invitation email:

Tonight at 6 PM ET we’re hosting a virtual town hall featuring the family of Ronald Greene and Aaron Bowman. Mr. Greene and Mr. Bowman were brutally beaten by Louisiana State Police 10 days apart – Mr. Greene was killed, and Bowman has sustained serious injuries. Together we’ll be discussing how Louisiana officials and lawmakers can respond to demands for police accountability and justice.

One of the revelations we learned from watching and listening to Hardin which heretofore we were unaware is that the family still has not viewed the full body cam video of Ronald Green’s arrest and the beating he endured.

We have followed both Greene’s case and that of Aaron Bowman very closely, so if we weren’t aware of that fact, we feel certain that the average Louisiana citizen (and others) were under a false impression after a news conference was held touting that the family had been provided an opportunity to view the full video.  Instead, Hardin revealed last night that the Greene family has only been provided with “snippet” clips of the arrest.

Hardin also indicated that, seven months after her son’s death, there had been no push to have the FBI investigate her son’s death, and she contends LSP’s primary goal was to “run out the clock” to block any effort on the part of Greene’s family to file a civil action against LSP.  Also, without naming Gov. Edwards by name, she indicates that, “higher ups in political seats” in Louisiana government have seen the video but nevertheless they continue to “turn their backs” on her family and permit her family to “go through hell.”  Let’s take a look at this fascinating presentation by Hardin:

Mona Hardin elaborates on what the Greene family’s life has been like after his death and her frustrations at the stonewalling of LSP and governmental officials to provide her family with answers regarding his death.

Next up was a first-person account from Aaron Bowman, who was also allegedly viciously beaten by LSP Troopers within 10 days of the Greene incident.  Immediately after Bowman’s account, Hardin concluded by stating that LSP’s Troop F is akin to a “modern-day KKK” and referencing that LSP’s Troop F as “evil.”  Here’s that segment of the meeting:

Aaron Bowman provide his first-person account of the brutality of LSP’s confrontation with him upon him returning from a quick shopping trip to the Dollar store and thereafter Hardin has some pretty harsh words for LSP’s Troop F after hearing Bowman’s recounting of his experience with LSP.

Next up was Louisiana ACLU’s Stephanie Willis providing an update on House Bill 430 by Rep. Ted James (D-Baton Rouge) to modify Louisiana Police Officers’ Bill of Rights.  Here’s that commentary:

 
Louisiana ACLU’s Stephanie Willis provides update on Rep. Ted James’ bill to modify provisions in Louisiana’s police officer Bill of Rights.

Next up, two of the Louisiana-based attorneys representing Greene and Bowman, Ron Haley and Doneca Banks-Miley, provide their commentary on the incidents.  Haley states that, because of the civil actions, they find themselves in “legal purgatory,” and further names former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves as having “cut his teeth” in Troop F and that his son is “a part of Troop F.”  He also states that, “any cover-up as it pertains to what happened had to get their direction or the blind eye turned from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”  Let’s take a look at their commentary now:

Haley and Banks-Miley provide their commentary on the Greene & Bowman matters.

Finally, the Louisiana ACLU gave special thanks to Parker-Brown for having provided video graphic evidence of an alleged excessive force incident entailing St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies.  Let’s take a look at that video:

Parker-Brown is recognized for her role in providing evidence to support this Federal lawsuit filed on 5/3/21.

CLICK HERE to see the Zoom meeting in its entirety.

We sincerely appreciate the invitation extended by Parker-Brown and ACLU officials, and we trust our subscribers and site visitors find the meeting to be as intriguing as we did.

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Louisiana State Police Command Inspector Mark Morrison (front right) explains to the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) on November 8, 2018 that “first and foremost” pilots hired for LSP’s Air Support Unit “must be troopers.”  Air Support Command Pilot Steven Lee (front left) looks on, while Morrison’s wife, Faye Morrison (LSP Legal Counsel) listens in (second row far left), as does Retired LSP Lieutenant Leon “Bucky” Millet (second row far right).

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Addendum (4/30/21 @ 12:23 p.m.):  Early this morning, we got official confirmation that YET ANOTHER Alexandria Trooper was hired for the most recent pilot opening as confirmed by LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman:

From: Jason Hannaman <Jason.Hannaman@LA.GOV>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 11:45 AM
To: Robert Burns <robert@soundoffla.com>
Subject: RE: Erin Williams

 

State Police Trooper Joseph Dessens was promoted to State Police Pilot on 2/9/2021.

Dessens was hired as a trooper as part of the 2006 Class of Cadets.  From the preceding link:

TROOP E-Alexandria

• Joseph Dessens
• John Dauzat
• William Martin
• Alison McCampbell
• James Rougeou
• Joseph Simms

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When we first exposed the extensive problems entailing disgraced former Louisiana State Police (LSP) Air Support pilot Michael Satcher, who faces felony criminal domestic abuse charges in Rapides Parish, we soon found ourselves inundated with material originating from multiple sources expressing thanks that a media outlet was, “finally delving into the corruption at LSP Air Support.”

We learned one thing really fast from these sources.  The pilot positions at LSP are highly coveted.  Not only do they pay more than standard trooper salaries, but they carry an added level of prestige which is magnified by the fact that they fly dignitaries like the Governor of Louisiana on a routine basis.

Though our sources literally plopped a multitude of complaints and allegations about LSP Air Support’s management in our laps, they all shared one point in common for which they had universal fury.  Specifically, they all represented to us that LSP Air Support was actively in negotiations to hire a pilot from outside of LSP.  They then contended that such a hiring constituted a direct violation of LSP hiring policy entailing those positions.

That prompted us (with the assistance of LSP retired Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet) to search for video of a meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) featuring Mark Morrison.  He is a Command Inspector at LSP as well as the husband of LSP Legal Counsel Faye Morrison.

Thanks to Millet, the video was quickly found.  Mark Morrison was questioned by LSPC Member Brian Crawford entailing whether LSP Air Support hires from within LSP ranks or goes outside to fill a position.  Here is Morrison’s verbatim response:

First and foremost, is that you’re a trooper.  You know.  At heart, we’re all troopers, and the bond that links us together is the fact that we’re all troopers, and we all started at Troop A.  So, it will come from an active duty trooper within State Police who meets the qualifications that are listed in here.

Crawford even followed up his question to ask that, upon that position being filled, would that then create an opening for another trooper to apply and obtain entry into the vacated position of the pilot being promoted (i.e. keep the hiring within the LSP family and free up a space for a trooper to enter Air Support and obtain a much-coveted pilot position).  Morrison responded, “Yes, sir.  That is my understanding.”

Let’s take (literally) just one minute to watch a video clip of that exchange, shall we?

11/8/18 LSPC Meeting:  Mark Morrison responds to LSPC Member Brian Crawford’s inquiry of whether the requested pilot position will be filled from within LSP ranks or whether someone from outside the agency will fill the position.

We were repeatedly guided entailing what documentation to seek from LSP Legal Counsel Faye Morrison in order to substantiate the hiring of a non-trooper, whom they openly identified as “Carl Bruce Stamey.”  They further indicated that he is “good friends with Steven Lee.”  They then added that essentially nobody is hired at LSP Air Support unless they are either “in tight” with Lee, live in or around the Alexandria area, where Lee resides (recall Satcher is from Alexandria), or ideally from Lee’s perspective, both.

These sources have openly questioned how a state agency such as LSP, which is headquartered in Baton Rouge, can essentially have a Division (Air Support) that is remotely headquartered in Alexandria, as they contend Air Support is.  These sources have offered reasons why Lee has such a strong preference for friends or Alexandria-area residents to be hired over other troopers.  We won’t comment on those reasons, but we believe our subscribers can deploy common sense to know why that’s the case if these troopers’ accusations are accurate.

At any rate, every time we modified our public records request to Faye Morrison over the course of about five months (and we made 3-4 such requests) to substantiate the planned hiring of Stamey, we ran into brick walls.  Morrison repeatedly indicated to us that LSP did not consider the requested documentation public record.

On December 28, 2020, we asked for a printout of the posting of the position.  We did so because we’d met with a source who told us he’d viewed it and contended that he, “knew the fix was in for Stamey to get the job because they included some obscure condition that the candidate had to have knowledge of vegetation.”  Stamey, a long-time DEQ employee, would be the only applicant with such knowledge.  Let us reproduce Morrison’s response to our request, even as it pertained to the mere job posting:

Mr. Burns:  please be advised that in response to items 3 and 4 of the request below, the documentation responsive to those requests is still in use and not yet public.  As such, those requests are denied at this time.  fdm

We would note that Morrison issued that response on January 27, 2021, which was a full 30 days after our request, only to then tell us that we would not be obtaining the records (item 4 Morrison references was nothing more than the job posting) for the reason she stated above.

We’re obviously not going to reveal one of our several sources entailing LSP Air Support’s operations; however, we will reproduce his reaction to Morrison’s response above:

If you can get all of those reports back to you.  If they did there some real good stuff in there that I can not talk about.  I highly doubt they will release that kind of information.

How’s that for a blunt assessment of LSP’s recent trumpeting of transparency?

Given the above, we decided that, at some point, LSP would either hire Stamey or they would not.  Accordingly, we waited an extended period and, on Monday, April 5, 2021, we made the following simple public records request:

Any documentation evidencing Mr. Bruce Stamey now being employed by Louisiana State Police.

Finally, we could no longer be given the run around by LSP (which has recently demonstrated that the agency seems to have obtained a patent on blocking the receipt of blatantly-obvious public records) and the gig, as they say, was finally up!  LSP had little choice but to provide us with this document.  As is obvious from the document, Lee requested that Stamey be hired on as an Aircraft Chief Fleet Pilot at a salary of $97,700 a year effective February 6, 2021 (a mere 10 days after Morrison denied our public records requests).  Stamey has held the position since that date, or for 82 days as of the date of this feature being published.

Now, we believe that a respectable LSPC would issue a command that Lee and Morrison appear before the Commission and answer the question of why Morrison’s statements above have proven to be demonstratively false.  We also believe that a respectable LSPC would also make the following inquiries of Lee and Morrison:

1.  How many pilots have received fixed-wing, multi-engine certifications paid for by taxpayers?
2. How does LSP justify that expense given that LSP has never owned such aircraft?
3. Does obtaining such certification enable one to obtain a more lucrative private-industry pilot position more readily?
4. How many such pilots have resigned from LSP soon after obtaining the certifications and for what reasons (we know of three and the reasons thereof and would love to see if Morrison/Lee would be truthful to the Commission)?
5. Has any pilot employed by LSP Air Support ever paid out of his own pocket to obtain fixed-wing, multi-engine certification?  If so, who?  Did he take annual leave to obtain the certification?
6. Were other pilots’ tuition for fixed-wing, multi-engine certifications paid for by taxpayers or the pilots themselves?  Were they required to take annual leave for school?
7. Can you account for the discrepancy, if one in fact exists, between responses to items 5 and 6 above?
8. Does LSP plan to (or has it already) obtain(ed)  the transfer of a fixed-wing, multi-engine aircraft constructed in or around the year 1976 from DEQ to LSP, making that aircraft the first such aircraft in LSP’s possession?
9. Will Mr. Stamey provide fixed-wing, multi-engine certification training in house?
10. Was that the primary reason he was hired?
11. Was the pilot position posting custom-tailored to fit Mr. Stamey?
12. Is the LSP Air Support Unit being utilized as a means for pilots to obtain credentials enabling them to depart for greener pastures in the private sector with advanced knowledge that their tenures at LSP Air Support are likely to be short-lived once such positions can be obtained?
13. Why is there such a preference given to Alexandria-area applicants for pilot positions and why have so many historically been chosen from that area?
14. Was a trooper newly-hired in the Air Support Unit told, “We have no idea how you pulled this off, but that’s not the way it works around here.  We determine who is hired, and you certainly weren’t someone we recommended for hire!”?
15. Was the trooper referenced in the previous question denied access to the facility on his first day on the job and obtained such access only by having a guard open the gate for him?
16. Did the trooper referenced in the prior two questions sign in the log book at the facility as “pilot” only to have the word “pilot” stricken out by one or more of his superiors at LSP’s Air Support Unit?
17. Did the trooper referenced in the prior three questions become so frustrated with the work environment at LSP’s Air Support Unit and the hostility he endured at that Unit that he requested a transfer soon after being hired at Air Support and was in fact soon thereafter transferred to LSP’s Gaming Enforcement Division?

Those are just a few questions that “inquiring minds” (especially the minds of many LSP Troopers with pilot aspirations) would like to obtain answers to and which they’d love to see the LSPC pose of Morrison and Lee.

Again, we believe that’s what a respectable LSPC would do.  We’ll see if this LSPC does what we believe would be respectable.  If so, we’ll certainly film such an event and ensure those who would love to see such questions posed by the LSPC receive the video by way of a Sound Off Louisiana feature!

So, how about it, LSPC?  We anxiously await publication of the next agenda!

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Former auctioneer and appointee of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, Jacob Brown, who faces a criminal trial on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 for allegedly issuing $180,000 in worthless checks to the State of Louisiana soon after Gov. Edwards appointed him to the Louisiana Auctioneer’s Licensing Board.

Long-time Sound Off Louisiana subscribers may recall that Jacob Brown (the auctioneer, not the Louisiana State Trooper in the news so much lately) was arrested on July 18, 2018.  For a review and for the benefit of new subscribers, here’s WAFB’s coverage of that arrest:

WAFB’s Crime Stoppers Profile Crime Stoppers profile of Brown as well as his arrest.

The above WAFB feature certainly provides the “Joe Friday, just the facts ma’am” story, but we’d like to expand it just a bit with some background.

Gov. Edwards placed Jacob Brown on the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB) simultaneously with his removal (only 16 days after appointing him) of Louisiana’s then-only African American auctioneer from that Board, Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips.  Anyone is welcome to see Rev. Phillips confront Edwards head-on about his decision to remove him from the LALB (again, only 16 days after appointing him) by  CLICKING HERE.

So, out with Phillips and in with Brown, who is the son of convicted felon (and Edwin Edwards associate) Cecil Brown, who accompanied former Gov. Edwin Edwards on an extended stay in Federal Prison.

As the old saying goes, “Like father, like son.”  No sooner had Brown been appointed to the LALB than did the tag-team of Edwards and his Commissioner of Administration, Jay Dardenne, who is presently a semi-finalist to become LSU’s next President, award Brown with lucrative contracts for the sale of State surplus property.  Let’s take a look at just how that worked out for us taxpayers, shall we?

We doubt anyone questions the entries on the preceding table but, just in case anyone wants direct verification, here is a 7-minute uninterrupted video segment of Brown’s July 9, 2018 LALB hearing (which was uploaded by the LALB on October 8, 2018, a full 91 days after the hearing!!!!) wherein Division of Administration attorney Carlos Romanach provides the material we present above:

Seven-minute segment of 7/9/18 LALB administrative hearing on former LALB member and auctioneer Jacob Brown.

Now, folks, we ask our subscribers, if someone had written a hot check for $26,920.58, would you entrust them 39 days after you learned the check was hot to continue performing services for you?  To our subscribers owning small businesses, if that $26,920.58 hot check had been issued to your business, would you continue doing business with the issuer?

Also, Brown allegedly stiffed East Baton Rouge Parish (EBRP) entailing not paying sales taxes on the auctions. Here’s the lawsuit EBRP officials filed in response:

For what it’s worth, the State of Louisiana filed a civil suit against Brown.  The private-sector victims of Brown’s actions pretty much just had to take their lumps and settle for a pro-rated share of the lousy $10,000 bond auctioneers are required to carry as a condition of licensure in Louisiana (the state got the lion’s share of that since losses are aggregated and claims paid on a pro-rata basis).

Obviously, Edwards had little choice but to remove Brown from the LALB for stiffing the State and EBRP and his failure to tender marketable title on automobiles which Brown’s company auctioned.

We have followed Brown’s criminal proceedings and, after numerous delays, the trial is now set for this Wednesday (April 28, 2021).  We commit to attend the trial and report on its outcome to our subscribers.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.