As former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain Matthews sounds off on St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith et. al., we opine on the scrambled outlook for LSP leadership in the intermediate term.

Former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain C. J. Matthews.

Former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain C. J. Matthews gave us a call and told us just how “fed up” he is about recent acts of law enforcement officers and members of the judiciary.  Here’s video of him sounding off:

Former Ascension Parish Sheriff Captain C. J. Matthews expresses his deep concerns about recent actions by a number of members of law enforcement and the judiciary in Louisiana.

Here are links for news outlet coverage of the incidents Matthews references in the above video (in order):

— Brent Amy, Gonzales City Police Officer, getting into a physical confrontation with an Ascension Parish Sheriff Deputy.

— 23rd JDC (Gonzales) Judge Steven Tureau getting into a major scuffle after being escorted out of a Gonzales bar.

— EBRP Sheriff Deputy Faith Placide terminated after stabbing her boyfriend after returning from three-month medical leave.

— Cottonport Fire Chief Chris Lemoine, who violated a burn ban and let his own fire engulf a slaughterhouse, referencing the Chief of Police as a “b” and a “h” as she effectuated his arrest.

(Note:  This WAFB feature on the same matter features some dialogue entailing Lemoine as well as pictures of the scene).

— Colfax Mayor-Elect Timika Hamilton-Price being arrested for DWI.

— Added details on the arrest of St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith, arrested for assaulting and doing great bodily harm to a blogger (Bobby Couvillion) to include asking a bail bondsman to drive him away from the scene in a Sheriff vehicle (Smith was allegedly drunk).

We believe the final feature above to be of such significance that we are also going to embed it:

Fox 8 (New Orleans) feature on more details surrounding St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith’s arrest for the assault of Bobby Couvillion, who has been a critic of Smith in online postings.

After the videotaping of the above segment with Matthews, this feature aired regarding former EBRP Sheriff Deputy Nicholas LoCicero being indicted on allegations that he raped a child.  From the WBRZ feature:

“Crimes against children are among the most serious offenses my office prosecutes. Anyone accused of preying on a child in Louisiana will be pursued aggressively by my office and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No one is above the law, especially those sworn to uphold it,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement following the indictment.

We reached out to Matthews to see if he wanted to be quoted about this indictment, and here is his response:

I wish she (Murrill) would go back and review the Fred Corder incident and interview the former DA Shawn Bush.  This would open up a can of worms between Jeff Landry, Jeff Wiley (former Ascension Parish Sheriff and current State Representative), Bobby Webre (current Ascension Parish Sheriff), and LSP’s (Belinda) Murphy and (Chad) Gremillion.  Now that’s a cover up right there!

Click here to review our prior investigative series on Corder as told by Matthews.

What adds intrigue to the whole Randy Smith saga is the fact that WAFB (Channel 9 in Baton Rouge) aired this May 13, 2026 feature indicating that LSP Col. Robert Hodges would be “stepping down” in August.  Importantly, in that feature, WAFB’s Chris Nakamoto indicated that Hodges would, “either pursue running for St. Tammany Parish Sheriff or pursue being the next U. S. Marshal from New Orleans.”  Nakamoto followed up his report with this May 14, 2026 feature seeking (largely unsuccessfully) for comment from Hodges on his alleged impending departure from LSP.

Our site visitors may recall us first revealing on December 15, 2025 that Hodges was a contender for that U. S. Marshal position; however, we also published this February 7, 2026 feature revealing that Hodges himself told his underlings that he was, “no longer a candidate for that U. S. Marshal position.”

At any rate, on June 3, 2026, Nakamoto aired this feature all but indicating that LSP Chief of Staff Frank Besson would be the next LSP Colonel.

Like Nakamoto, we’d received numerous texts from LSP retirees with connections within LSP regarding Hodges soon leaving and a replacement being named.  We, however, were very reluctant to publish anything, particularly regarding who Hodges’ replacement would be.

Why were we so reluctant to publish anything on Hodges’ potential replacement?  Simple.  Our sources were about equally divided on whether it would be Besson or LSP Captain Michael Nicolini.

Nicolini, according to our sources, used his Sergeant status to serve in a Lieutenant position when former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed him to Jindal’s security detail.  Nicolini has been described to us by multiple sources to be, “very tight with Gov. Jeff Landry’s major campaign contributor and business associate, Shane Guidry, for whom he also worked as personal security.” Nicolini then followed Gov. Landry to the Attorney General’s Office.  Thereafter, once Landry was elected Governor, Nicolini returned to LSP, where he now serves as a detailed Captain on Landry’s security detail.

So, our sources were equally split between Nicolini and Besson; however, Nakamoto’s feature has been viewed as a highly likely strategic use of specifically-targeted “leaks” to Nakamoto with the express purpose of placing Gov. Landry in a position of feeling as if he had little choice but to choose Besson because the largest media outlet in the state had indicated that he would be the choice.  In our opinion, this belief (which is very strongly held by those with whom we spoke on the matter), is buttressed by the terse reaction of Gov. Landry’s Press Relations Coordinator Kate Kelly.  Here’s her reaction taken directly from Nakamoto’s June 3, 2026 feature above:

“I have heard of no changes at LSP. Any change of command comes directly from the governor.”

If this was a strategic maneuver to try and “box” Landry into selecting Besson, we can state that no Governor, not one, would appreciate such a maneuver; furthermore, we’ll add that this particular Governor is going to have a very strong negative reaction to any such maneuver if it indeed did transpire.

Our sources who are still willing to comment on the present matter as it stands now (it seems to have become a major hot potato) have now told us that Gov. Landry has requested that Hodges hang around for the foreseeable future (likely, by our own speculation, until the new year approaches when Hodges may initiate a campaign to replace Smith — assuming Smith doesn’t resign before next year’s election, which would certainly be the honorable thing to do).  Those same sources now tell us that Besson is, “out, o-u-t, out!”

So with all that backdrop, believe it or not, we have been asked to provide odds on who Hodges’ replacement will be irrespective of what timeframe such replacement transpires (which we speculate will be very late 2026 to very early 2027).

In deference to the escalating trend of bettors utilizing “prediction markets” (e.g. Kalshi, perhaps to skirt Landry’s outrageous increase in the online sports betting tax – full disclosure:  Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns has opened up a prediction market account and has utilized it to make sports bets for that very purpose), we will play along.

The way prediction markets work is that, technically, a bettor purchases a “contract” for a fixed amount to pay $1 if the bettor is correct on his “prediction.”

Obviously, the bettor is free to purchase as many such contracts as may be correspondingly sold by the prediction market maker.

Typically, a “quote” is readily available from the prediction market site assuming the activity level is heavy with predictors making predictions on both sides of the trade, thus ensuring a 2-3 percent profit margin for the prediction market site (far less than the 10 percent or so charged by traditional sports betting services, with Landry confiscating 21.5 percent of that 10 percent).

If a quote is not readily available because trading of contracts [these prediction markets are regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)] is too light, the prediction market may take some time to offer a quote.

Obviously, there would be insufficient interest in who will replace Hodges for it to be worth it for a predictions market to open trading on the matter, but, if we were to be asked to make a quote for purposes of the prediction market, here is what we would provide (as a market maker of sorts):

Michael Nicolini, $0.92; Frank Besson, $0.13; Anybody else, $0.005.

For translation, a $92 “prediction” on Nicolini would return $100 if Nicolini gets the nod.  A $13 “prediction” on Besson would return $100 if Besson gets the nod, and a 50 cent “prediction” that someone else besides Besson or Nicolini gets the nod would pay $100.  Translation:  We believe Nicolini is the very heavy favorite!  That’s just our take though, and what do we know?

Irrespective of who and when LSP may have a new Colonel, there’s one thing we can all agree upon, and that is that there is never a dull moment in Louisiana law enforcement or its judiciary, huh?