Text sent from LSP Col. Robert Hodges to Billy Broussard on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 12:20 p.m.
In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, Billy Broussard alleges that LSP Col. Robert Hodges, after being prodding by Louisiana Senator (and candidate for U. S. Senate) Blake Miguez’s seeking a Baton Rouge-based investigation, instructed LSP Lt. William Bosworth and Sgt. Benjamin Friedmann to conduct, “an independent and objective investigation” (See feature photo at the top of this feature).
That “investigation,” which Bosworth and Friedmann insist was never intended to be more than a “review,” was, according to Broussard, intended to focus on his allegations that the now-defunct Gravity Drainage District 8 of Ward 1 of Calcasieu Parish very likely committed FEMA fraud, definitively lied to Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) officials and, in the process, cheated him out of over $1 million in debris cleanup efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
Broussard alleges that, in contrast to Col. Hodges’ admonition, Bosworth and Friedmann conducted a half-hearted investigation with a mission of seeking to close the file as quickly as possible. As is evident in a segment of the video below, Broussard also asserts that, in seeking to close the file as quickly as possible, Bossworth and Freidmann strongly insinuated that Broussard “fabricated documents.” Here’s video of Broussard’s contentions, including his exchange with the two investigators over the authenticity of a “chronology document.”:
Broussard outlines his arguments that Bosworth and Friedmann conducted a half-hearted investigation (they claim mere “review”) which he claims differs significantly from Col. Hodges’ assertion that an “independent and objective” investigation of his matter be conducted. He also challenges both gentlemen regarding whether they are implicitly suggesting that he “fabricated documents” which he provided to them.
On November 19, 2024, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns made the following Public Records Request of LSP:
The Louisiana Department of Public Safety, Public Safety Services received a public records request from you on November 19, 2024. Your request mentioned:
On or about Tuesday, November 12, 2024, LSP Col. Robert Hodges sent the attached text message [see above photo] to Billy Broussard. In light of the content of the text message, I make formal public records request for the following items pertaining to that attached text message:
1. Any documentation evidencing the subject matter that was reviewed and/or investigated;
2. Any documentation itemizing the name and position of individual(s) at LSP who instructed the scope of the investigation and/or review;
3. Any video or audio recordings pertaining to the investigation and/or review;
4. Documentation itemizing the list of individuals with whom the individuals itemized in item # 2 above correspondence with during the course of the investigation and/or review;
5. The names of any and all investigators who have had involvement in this matter;
6. Documentation evidencing the names of individuals at the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office who interacted with LSP during the course of this investigation and/or review;
7. Any documentation evidencing communications with any judges during the duration of this investigation and/or review;
8. Documentation evidencing the names of any individuals with GOHSEP and/or FEMA with whom any LSP officials corresponded during the duration of this investigation and/or review.
On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, LSP responded with the following records:
1. The .jpg photo depicted above (Hodges’ text) which Burns himself supplied on 11/19/24.
Entailing Broussard’s core assertion, there most certainly does seem to be a clear discrepancy between Hodges’ text indicating that an “independent and objective investigation” transpired vs. a mere “review.” After all, on the audio recordings above, Bosworth and Friedmann do not mince their words in stating point-blank to Broussard: “We did not do any investigation,”
Irrespective of whether (being kind) a half-hearted investigation transpired or a mere “review,” we feel compelled to draw attention to a few points we made note of entailing the audio files linked above:
— DeBosier’s first name (Mark) can’t be recalled by the investigators; furthermore, they botch the pronunciation of his last name (it’s de-bos-your and not de-bows-e-a).
— They botch Plaia’s last name even far worse than DeBosier’s. They pronounce Plaia’s last name as “pa-lee-a” when his last name is pronounced “ply-a.”
— They claim they “forwarded” the document to Plaia and DeBosier, yet our public records request could not substantiate any such email forwarding.
— No recordings, or even hand-written notes (or typed notes) of any correspondence with Plaia or DeBosier were in LSP’s possession.
That’s our observations, and we’ll let our site visitors make up their own minds the level of “investigation” or even the level of “review” that took place entailing Broussard’s matter.
Of course, there’s one recording of DeBosier which nobody can deny! That would be his infamous bragging of his ability to get folk at the Legislative Auditor’s Office to “stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes, and we make sure there are no fingerprints on it.”
That is a recording which Broussard himself sprung upon everyone in the room at a meeting at the Legislative Auditor’s Office on February 10, 2019.
Lynne Browning, who was the Deputy Director of GOHSEP at the time (she remains with GOHSEP to this day) made her own interesting commentary in that meeting, and we want to revisit it:
Browning explains why fraud is inevitable (and seemingly acceptable), after which Broussard drops this bombshell recording of former GOHSEP’s Deputy Director Mark DeBosier bragging of his ability to get the Legislative Auditor’s Office to, “close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears, and we make sure there’s no fingerprints on it.” As Broussard contends has uncovered irrefutable evidence that Browning had been “fully briefed” on the email(s) demonstrating he’d been cheated out of $453,000 (he contends much more, but that’s a written admission, Broussard contends) and Broussard is particularly disturbed that, with his added knowledge that Browning had been “fully briefed” on the matter, her opening words in the above video seem to imply there’s no choice but to give a wink and a nod to the fraud Broussard asserts transpired on the Hurricane Rita recovery work.
Now, there is a document that Bosworth and Friedmann stated that they reviewed with DeBosier and Plaia “line by line” in the above-linked audio files. What is that document?
Well, that would be this “chronology document” from Mark DeBosier to Ben Plaia sent on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 9:14 a.m.
Bosworth and Friedmann said that they were unable to “authenticate” the document and, therefore, they were, “closing the file.”
Now, regarding Broussard’s contention that Browning was briefed, here’s that email of Monday, June 29, 2015 clearly demonstrating Browning was briefed on the $453,000 in “additional work” for which Broussard alleges he should have been paid not only that full amount, but much more!
We should not that Broussard has asserted from the day Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns first met him, that, on Monday, June 29, 2015, then-GOHSEP Director, Kevin Davis, allegedly stated, upon seeing the proof that Broussard had been denied a massive amount of money ($1 million +) in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita disaster recovery, “We can fix this!”
Broussard contends that, Browning’s very obvious “briefing” on his matter notwithstanding, 3-1/2 years later, at that meeting at the Legislative Auditor’s Office, she never gave the slightest hint that she had ever been privy to that briefing and the damning portrayal that document Broussard supplied to Bosworth and Friedmann paints of parties involved in negotiations with FEMA and/or GOHSEP.
At any rate, it has now been 3,796 days since that infamous meeting on Monday, June 29, 2015, for which evidence produced by Broussard suggests strongly that Browning was briefed, yet the matter still has not be “fixed” to this very day!
Interestingly enough, GOHSEP, according to Broussard, now says it can’t “put its hands” on documents Broussard references, but Broussard indicates on the video above that there is one person who can, “put his hands on those documents,” (See 17:34 mark of first video above) with that individual being Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
It was Landry who just so happened to have served as Broussard’s attorney in attempting to obtain the funds that Landry too emphatically asserted that Broussard was owed. Most folk will recall 14th JDC Judge David Ritchie admonishing Broussard to do as the commercial says next time and, “Choose your lawyer carefully.” Of course, it wasn’t all that long thereafter that Landry’s co-counsel, Robin Sylvester, admitted that she was withdrawing from the case largely as a result of “crooked judges” at 14th JDC.
Given that Gov. Landry was Broussard’s lead attorney and given what Judge Ritchie thought of Landry’s legal skills, we can only ponder what Gov. Landry may think of the clear discrepancy Broussard points out between what he expected of Hodges’ representations that an “independent and objective investigation” would take place, albeit it at the urging of Sen. Blake Miguez, vs. what Broussard contends was a half-hearted effort in which Bosworth and Friedmann used Broussard as a scapegoat for doing any level of review and/or investigation by, per Broussard, strongly insinuating that he had fabricated documents which he obtained from GOHSEP via his own public records requests.