Category: Uncategorized

LSP Trooper Michael Lynn Satcher, II

On the very day of the primary of last year’s race for Governor of Louisiana, October 12, 2019, Louisiana State Police (LSP) Trooper Michael Lynn Satcher, II was arrested on a complaint of domestic abuse.   Let’s take a look at the 47-second news clip of Satcher’s arrest:

Original news feature of Satcher’s arrest, which aired on Monday, October 14, 2019.

Satcher, who is a helicopter pilot for LSP, was charged with unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling; intentional damage to property in an amount less than $1,000; and intentional use of force or violence against two victims, one of whom, Cynthia Chapman, was identified as his “dating partner.”

In the last several weeks, we have received considerable inquiry and correspondence from LSP troopers and public members with integral LSP ties asking us to research the Satcher criminal case.  Our first step was to make a public records request to examine Satcher’s disciplinary file and to see his two most recent time sheets.  We were told that he has no disciplinary file whatsoever; however, our interest peaked when we received his two most recent time sheets and uncovered that he has been taking “forced annual leave” for the payroll periods in question.

Next, we visited the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court’s Office to see what we could uncover entailing Satcher’s criminal prosecution.  The first thing we observed is that Rapides Parish DA Phillip Terrell wasted little time filing a motion to recuse himself from the prosecution by citing a very close friendship with Satcher and stating that they are also “hunting partners.”  Accordingly, the matter became the responsibility of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Office to prosecute.

Our next observation concerned us because there is a minute entry on the Clerk’s system indicating that Landry’s Office has moved to Nolle Prosse (i.e. not prosecute) the domestic abuse charge.  Here’s that minute entry of August 12, 2020 highlighted (click on the image to enable better viewing):

For obvious reasons, that minute entry disturbed us.  Accordingly, we reached out to the Assistant Attorney General handling the matter for Jeff Landry’s Office, John Russell IV, who quickly told us that assertion is “incorrect.”  Let’s take a look at our email correspondence with Russell:

As is evidenced by Russel’s correspondence above, he indicates, “the lesser charges were technically nolle procssed because I upgraded them to felony offenses.”  We certainly are willing to accept Russell at this word; however, we found it interesting that the two Bills of Information pertaining to Satcher’s offenses were filed one minute apart (the first filed on May 28, 2020 at 10:02 a.m., and the second filed on May 28, 2020 at 10:03 a.m.) and only one felony is indicated (unauthorized entry), with the others specifically identified as misdemeanors.  Here are those Bills of Information:

We could find no documented evidence in any publicly-recorded file on Satcher’s prosecution that indicates any of the above three misdemeanors have been upgraded to felonies (and, going strictly by the minute entry alone, the domestic abuse count is indicated to be “nolle prossed”); however, as we said, we’re willing to accept Russell’s word.  Nevertheless, in a sign of respect to former President Ronald Wilson Reagan, we’ll certainly “trust but verify,” as we continue to monitor this matter and update our subscribers entailing the ultimate disposition on Satcher’s prosecution.

We also made a follow-up public records request to obtain all time sheets for which Satcher is claiming “forced annual leave” since his arrest on October 12, 2019 through the date of our request.  LSP Legal Counsel Faye Morrison responded that we should expect the records on or before Monday, January 4, 2021.  What we expect to find, however, is that Satcher has been forced to take annual leave as a result of the Court placing him under this protective order effective July 29, 2020, which specifically prohibits him from carrying a firearm “through the disposition of the charges.”  Since carrying a firearm is a condition of employment with LSP, that would make performing his duties impossible.  Hence, we expect to see that Satcher has been placed on “forced annual leave” since July 29, 2020 forward.

As indicated in the minute entry and as referenced by Russell above, Satcher has a pre-trial hearing tomorrow (November 5, 2020).  We commit to our subscribers to monitor the outcome of that hearing along with any further developments that transpire in Satcher’s prosecution and any future disciplinary action (if any is ever taken after the criminal matter is resolved) and report same to our subscribers.

Disgraced outgoing LSP Col. Kevin Reeves.

Sound Off Louisiana subscribers may recall that, on March 4, 2020, we called upon LSP Col. Kevin Reeves to just go ahead and “resign in disgrace.”   From the preceding feature:

As for Col. Reeves:

1.  He was Oliphant’s supervisor at the time Oliphant drafted the original incident report regarding Braxton’s alleged intimidation,

2.  It’s now a near certainty that Gov. Edwards (much to the frustration of the LSTA which prompted them to get Zurik involved) sat on Oliphant’s incident report for over a year because he knew (just as Reeves obviously knew since he had to approve it) that it was a fabrication,

3.  The recent training academy fiasco,

4.  The haphazard implementation of pay raises that Trooper Coates has now established has transpired agency-wide,

When combined with many other recent LSP black eyes and the fact that Reeves obviously merely elevated his chief lieutenants to sky-high salaries (and we’ve heard reports they may have just gotten big pay boosts as Reeves may have as well, but we’ll have to pursue public records requests to substantiate that fact), so that they could retire with fat pensions (just as Reeves will), we firmly believe it’s time for Reeves to resign in disgrace!  His tenure as LSP Colonel can now officially be declared an absolutely unmitigated disaster!

We certainly did pursue a public records request back at the time of that March 4, 2020 feature to substantiate what some irate LSP troopers were telling us were pay raises Reeves had promised to his inner circle of cronies.  Subscribers may recall that several of those cronies, who readily agreed to sign off on Reeves’ son obtaining a much-coveted Detective position despite any evidence we could obtain (and, yes, we asked for such evidenced) of qualification or training for such a position.  As the preceding article indicates, Reeves handed out promotions left and right to his cronies during the timeframe leading to Reeves’ son, Kaleb, obtaining the Detective position.  [Sidebar:  For reasons unknown, Kaleb Reeves was transferred back to patrol after several months serving as a Detective, and he was recently in an at-fault rear-ending of a vehicle in which two young ladies, ages 18 and 11, were killed.]

When we made the public records request entailing the pay raises back in early March, the response we received from LSP legal counsel Faye Morrison was that, “there are no documents responsive to your request.”  Accordingly, we surmised that any such pay raises must have been intended to go into effect at the start of the new fiscal year (July 1, 2020).  Accordingly, we recently made the same public records request and, to what should be nobody’s surprise, we hit pay dirt, and we’re about to elaborate upon the contents of the response to our public records request.

As every Louisiana citizen is aware, an absolutely massive number of Louisiana citizens are presently out of work through no fault of their own as a result of the Corona virus pandemic.  Further, many businesses continue to struggle to keep their doors open given the capacity limits under which they must operate.  Given that backdrop, let’s take a look at how the privileged few are making out at LSP during a time of revelations of one act of corruption and cover-up after another in the media:

First, we have none other than Col. Reeves himself.  He officially “retires” effective tomorrow (Friday, October 30, 2020), but for his final four months of service, he managed to obtain a pay raise for himself (presumably authorized by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who hasn’t hesitated to emphasize how much he “stands behind” Reeves).  From the linked public records request response above:

This request is to grant a 4% salary adjustment for Deputy Secretary/ Colonel Kevin Reeves, increasing his salary from $177,436 to $184,533 annually.

So, for the Louisiana citizens out there having to try and make do with an approximate $220/week unemployment check (if they’re fortunate enough to qualify for the maximum), take comfort from the fact Col. Reeves’ mere increase in pay amounts to over half of what they’re receiving in total.

Now let’s move on to a gentleman near and dear to former Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) member Calvin Braxton’s heart, Lt. Col. Jay Oliphant:

Reeves promoted Oliphant not once, but twice, prior to Oliphant signing off on the Kaleb Reeves Detective position.  Braxton is suing Oliphant, and in the suit, he alleges that Oliphant, in concert with Reeves and the Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA), fabricated an incident report which Braxton alleges is near 100 percent false.  Braxton’s attorney, Jill Craft, has been entering depositions of many of the players in the Braxton ouster into the pubic record in state court in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  We, in turn, have been (at least to the extent we feel we can reasonably afford), downloading either depositions in their entireties or excerpts of those depositions in preparation for a major update we’re planning on the Braxton civil litigation.  For now, however, we’ll merely focus on the raise Reeves recently bestowed upon Oliphant.  Again, from the linked public records request response above:

Please grant a salary adjustment of 3% effective 7/1/20 to LTC Jay Oliphant. Annual salary to be $155,275.00.
Approved by Colonel Kevin Reeves.

Next, we have Lt. Col. Robert Adam White (no photo available):

Please grant a salary adjustment of 3% effective 7/1/20 to LTC Robert “Adam” White.  Annual salary to be $155,275.00.
Approved by Colonel Kevin Reeves.

Next we have Jason Starnes.  Anytime we see that name, we can’t help but reminisce about the most cantankerous video we’ve ever produced at Sound Off Louisiana, and it entailed former LSPC Member Lloyd Grafton and current LSPC Member Jared Riecke arguing over, guess what, yet another controversial raise for Starnes.  For subscribers who’ve never seen the video, we think you’ll find it well worth the watch:

February 9, 2017 LSPC meeting entailing a very heated exchange between members Lloyd Grafton and Jared Riecke regarding a controversial pay raise for Jason Starnes.

Like Oliphant, Starnes signed off on the Kaleb Reeves Detective position.  In fact, Starnes was the highest level of approval required for Reeves to obtain the Detective position.

From the response to our public records request above:

Please grant a salary adjustment of 3% effective 7/1/20 to LTC Jason Starnes.  Annual salary to be $155,275.00.  Approved by Colonel Kevin Reeves.

Next we have Lt. Col. Robert Brown, whom Reeves recently named as his Chief of Staff.  This recent feature by WBRZ investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto revealed that Brown’s son, Jacob, was “placed on leave last week in what our [WBRZ] sources described as a 2019 excessive force incident.”

Again, from the previously-linked response to our public records request:

Please grant a salary adjustment of 3% effective 7/1/20 to LTC Robert Brown. Annual salary to be S166, 144.00.
Approved by Colonel Kevin Reeves.

Next we have Lt. Col. Michael Layne Barnum (no photo available).  Again, from the linked public records request response:

Please grant a salary adjustment of 3% effective 7/1/20 to
LTC Michael Layne Barnum. Annual salary to be $155,275.00.
Approved by Colonel Kevin Reeves.

The remainder of the response to our public records request deals with pay adjustments for pilots which we believe we recall being discussed by the LSPC together with a few emails entailing adjusting those salaries.

When a similar set of pay raises was  discussed at the October 13, 2016 LSPC meeting, retired LSP Trooper (and LSP watchdog) Leon “Bucky” Millet expressed his concerns that neither Louisiana’s Constitution nor LSPC rules were followed for the pay raises [see item III(d) on page 2 of the preceding linked minutes].  There have been some questions raised by several of our sources as to whether the current set of raises may have been proper or legal and whether or not they should have been presented to the LSPC for approval.  We do not know whether that’s the case or not; however, it has been our experience that LSP upper brass has typically simply borrowed the famous Nike slogan of “just do it!”

So, if anyone reading this feature is out of work and hoping that their meager unemployment benefits aren’t exhausted before another job can be procured (or perhaps even awaiting a second round of stimulus from Washington), rest easy that LSP upper brass have been well provided for by outgoing disgraced LSP Col. Kevin Reeves.

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Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill.