Sound Off Louisiana

Lt. Charlie Jones, DPS A-Shift Supervisor and the individual in charge of the assignment of a controversial security detail to the Louisiana State Police Retirement Board (LSPRB) for Shelley Sebastian’s return to work on Monday, March 11, 2019.

In this special Easter Sunday feature of Sound Off Louisiana, founder Robert Burns provides status updates to five LSP-related civil lawsuits:

Burns provides updates on five (5) LSP-related civil lawsuits.

Observations / Relevant Documentation Pertaining to Each Lawsuit:

Shelley Sebastian v. Louisiana State Police Retirement System:

Shelley Sabastian, terminated from LSPRB on 1/7/19 and 3/27/19.

Original Feature:  3/27/19:  Document Felps said to rely upon to terminate Sebastian asserted “not to exist.”

Sebastian material begins at 1:57 on video above.

Emails which DIRECTLY CONTRADICT the sworn courtroom testimony of LSPRB Executive Director Irwin Felps, Jr., entailing the retaining of security for Sebastian’s return to work being, “all oral with nothing in writing.”:

Sebastian’s final two time sheets for which the LSPRB is steadfastly refusing to provide the codes for the nature of her leave:

LSPRB’s official bogus explanation for why they have no intention of providing the codes applicable for Sebastian on the above time sheets:

As evidence that the preceding statement attributed to “legal counsel” is, we firmly believe, 100 percent bogus, consider our massive request for LSP time sheets, for which no such “privacy issues” were cited by LSP’s legal counsel for ANY of the sixteen (16) troopers for whom time sheets were requested AND provided in FULL.  NONE!!

Furthermore, even Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board Executive Director Sandy Edmonds, who was actively being investigated at varying times by both the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office and the Louisiana Office of Inspector General for alleged payroll fraud based upon time sheets we derived and submitted to them (which disclosed her being “on the clock” when, in reality, she was frequently vacationing out of state), had no such “privacy issues” asserted.  All anyone has to do is click here to see just a small sampling of the accounting for ALL hours applicable for Edmonds to include sick leave used/taken, annual leave used/taken, etc. supplied by Ms. Edmonds, her in-the-dark status of being investigated for alleged payroll fraud notwithstanding!

So, in a nutshell, we firmly believe that the preceding explanation provided by the LSPRB (stated to be uttered by “legal counsel” of whom we make clear we have a pretty low opinion in the preceding video) is, as we stated above, 100 percent bogus!  If anything, the apprehension regarding providing us with the leave codes stems from the fact that the payroll records applicable for the payroll periods have already been processed and pay stubs issued.  Hence, there exists no ability to, as Sebastian’s attorney asserts in the original Writ of Mandamus, go back and alter public records.  In other words, they are now etched in proverbial stone.

Those now-processed codes entailing Sebastian’s final pay likely cause Gann and Felps consternation in that they may well implicate them in payroll fraud given that Sebastian was ready, willing, and able to work, yet Felps allegedly told her to “stay away from the office” from March 13, 2019 through her termination date of March 27, 2019.  Under the theory that the leave taken by Sebastian (entailing one or more time sheets that were neither prepared by her nor signed by her) was sick leave when she was in fact ready, willing, and able to work, one can only conclude that payroll fraud appears to have taken place under such a scenario; furthermore, only Felps and Gann’s names appear anywhere on the time sheets as having any involvement in any such potential payroll fraud.

Kevin Sulcer v. Louisiana State Police:

LSP Trooper Kevin Sulcer, who asserted that a polygraphist position was posted by LSP in such a manner that only one candidate would emerge qualified (Donny Guitreau) and that he was excluded from being able to post for the position because of his African-American race.

Sound Off Louisiana has not previously published material entailing the Sulcer litigation.

Sulcer material begins at 20:21 on video above.

April 10, 2019 Order granting LSP’s Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissing Sulcer’s lawsuit with prejudice (i.e. without the right to re-file on the same subject matter).

Cathy Derbonne v. Louisiana State Police Commission:

Cathy Derbonne, former Executive Director of the Louisiana State Police Commission, who asserts she was “constructivel discharged” for whistleblowing actions on her part.

Original Feature:   Gov. Edwards’ office tells Derbonne to “shut the f— up

Derbonne material begins at 23:35 on video above.

March 12, 2019 amended pleadings of Cathy Derbonne

Calvin Braxton v. Louisiana State Trooper’s Association:

Former Louisiana State Police Commission Member Calvin Braxton, who is suing the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association for alleged defamation of his character entailing an investigative report by Fox8’s Lee Zurik.

Original Feature:  5/15/18:  Braxton sues for defamation entailing LSTA’s role in Zurik investigative feature.

Braxton material begins at 27:26 on video above.

The following material is a copy and paste from our  post regarding potential nepotism entailing LSP Col. Reeves’ son, Caleb.

Level 3 Approval:  Jay Oliphant, whom Reeves promoted to Region 3 Majoron June 27, 2017.  Incredibly, and from what we are told by our LSP sources, Oliphant THEN RECEIVED A SECOND PROMOTION (to a highly-prestigious position of Lieutenant Colonel)  as  “deputy Superintendent of Patrol”sometime after June 27, 2017.  Again, as with Vidrine above, we could find no press release or other notice via Google search, but also as evidenced similarly to Vidrine above, Oliphant clearly got the second promotion as evidenced by the previous link.

Lieutenant Colonel Oliphant is perhaps the most intriguing player in the mix.  As long-time Sound Off Louisiana subscribers are aware, it is Oliphant who is the central focus of former Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) member Calvin Braxton’s defamation lawsuit against the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association (LSTA).  In essence, Braxton alleges that the material contained in a report authored by Oliphant, which can be viewed beginning on page three (3) at this link, constituted an orchestrated attempt by the LSTA to have him removed from the LSPC by having Oliphant produce a “fake” incident report which Braxton claims is completely false.  He also asserts in the lawsuit that the content of that incident report has defamed his character.

Experts with whom we’ve spoken with ties to LSP have told us that the incident report, which is dated June 2, 2016, is highly suspicious as to its credibility because the actual incident transpired on December 5, 2015.  These experts have informed us that it’s unheard of for an LSP Trooper to draft an incident report some 180 days after the incident, and they’ve told us that the norm is for such a report to be prepared within 24 hours of the incident or 48 hours at the latest.

The timing of Oliphant’s report is also suspicious in that Braxton was known to be working with former LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne regarding irregularities at the LSPC.  Most noteworthy among those irregularities were illegal campaign contributions into Gov. Edwards’ (and others) campaigns in 2015 by the LSTA.  A consent agreement was reached with the State Board of Ethics entailing those illegal campaign contributions which called for a $5,000 fine to the LSTA.

What makes the timing of Oliphant’s incident report (June 2, 2016) suspicious is that, only 47 days after it was drafted, Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones made a stunning revelation on a conference call for which he did not know Cathy Derbonne was listening in on via speakerphone.  Specifically, Derbonne contends that, on July 19, 2016, Jones stated that Gov. Edwards’ office had told Derbonne to “shut the f— up”about both the campaign contributions and the fact that she contended Gov. Edwards was making illegal appointments to the LSPC by not following Louisiana’s Constitution.  Derbonne’s contention about such illegal appointments actually mirrors the claim Attorney General Jeff Landryrecently lodged against Edwards in litigation Landry has filed entailing an Edwards appointment to the Red River Basin Commission.

Another interesting aspect of Lt. Colonel Oliphant is a Facebook post he made in early 2017 which follows:

Because LSP is itself law enforcement, Oliphant’s social media post seems particularly inappropriate and may have warranted disciplinary action because of the horrendously bad message that it sends to the public.  Specifically, it sends the message that someone citizens have entrusted to be brave when being called upon to help them resolve their insecurities or fears actually openly admits in a wide-open, available-to-the-world Facebook post that he struggles to manage his own insecurities and fears.  His reference to doing “whatever is necessary to protect those who are near and dear to me; including myself” could very easily be interpreted as an LSP Trooper willing to take the law and legal process into his own hands, which is something any LSP Trooper would warn any citizen against doing.

Oliphant also appears to want to be cute in not naming the individual whom he references as instilling such “fear” into him, yet all the while he’s composing that post, and it’s being commented upon and shared, he knows full well that anyone reading the post will know full-well that he’s referencing Braxton.  We should also note that we have been informed by folk with strong LSP ties that making a Facebook post of the nature Oliphant has made is potentially a violation of LSP’s policies and procedures.  If it isn’t, it certainly ought to be because of the horrendously bad message that it sends to the general public.  Sources have told us that Oliphant deleted the Facebook post in short order, but not before the preceding screen-shot was taken and subsequently provided to us for the purpose of this Sound Off Louisiana feature.

Braxton has denied any such focus on Oliphant.  Also, his attorney, Jill Craft, who also represents Derbonne in her LSPC litigation, states in the following interview with WWL in New Orleans, how Oliphant should have handled any such concerns on his part (for which we wholeheartedly agree with Craft’s statements in that regard):

Craft comments on Oliphant’s alleged fears of Braxton and Braxton’s contention that he was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by the LSTA designed to have him removed from the LSPC.

It will be up to the jury in Braxton’s civil litigation to decide whether or not it concurs with Braxton’s very emphatic contention that Oliphant’s report is a fabrication and, further, if his name and reputation have been damaged by the LSTA and/or Oliphant, but we will make the following four observations on the matter:

1.  The matter of the political contributions was (and is) obviously highly sensitive to the LSTA, and that fact has been readily demonstrated by the LSTA’s recent lawsuit against the LSPC seeking to again make such contributions in the 2019 election cycle.

2.  IF (emphasis on the word “IF”) the incident report by Oliphant is indeed a fabrication, then THAT would explain why Edwards sat on the report for over a year.  Fox8’s Lee Zurik hammered Edwards hard on that fact.  Either way, the optics look horrible for Edwards.  Only two possibilities exist:  1) the incident report is authentic, in which case Edwards looks horrible for sitting on it for a year and taking no action until Zurik exposed its existence in a very public manner; or 2) the report is a fabrication, in which case Edwards appears complicit in the effort to sandbag Braxton by sitting on the report unless and until it was needed to oust Braxton from the LSPC.

3.  When we made a public records request of the Edwards administration for a signed resignation letter from Calvin Braxton, his office could provide us with nothing more than this press release, which had been widely distributed through Gov. Edwards’ internal email distribution system.

4.  IF (and again we emphasize “IF”) the report is a fabrication as Braxton alleges, that would mean that LSP has gotten corrupt beyond comprehension in that:  A) the LSTA could deploy a puppet (in this case, Jay Oliphant) to remove someone on the LSPC whom they deem to be adverse to their own interests; and B) that puppet would thereafter be rewarded for his role in the ouster via two lightening-fast promotions, the most recent of which is to a very highly prestigious position of Lt. Colonel, for which there are only four such appointments of that rank.  If that scenario is indeed what has transpired, then LSP can only be described as little short of a Mafia operation!  Further, the public’s trust will be almost impossible to restore for an agency that is that corrupt short of a massive overhaul led by someone from the outside who has no prior LSP connections, and Reeves wouldn’t remotely qualify for meeting that criterion!

Was Reeves’ rapid-fire promotions of Oliphant a “reward” to Oliphant for his alleged role in assisting with an alleged plot to oust Braxton?  We do not know, but Col. Reeves is invited to appear on camera to respond to any and all aspects of this investigative report to dispel any notions of nepotism, a continuation of the Edmonson sleaze factor, or anything else for which he’d like to provide commentary.

Louisiana State Trooper’s Association v. Louisiana State Police Commission:

Louisiana State Trooper’s Association President (and member of the Louisiana State Police Retirement Board) James O’Quinn.

Original Feature:  10/5/18:  LSTA asserts LSPC “violating our constitutional right.”

LSTA material begins at 31:05 on video above.

April 9, 2019 dilatory exception filed by Louisiana State Police Commission

If you would like to be added 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.

Dr. Jeet Patel, whom disgruntled Monroe dentist Richard Willis is seeking to block Louisiana Senate confirmation on after Gov. John Bel Edwards chose him over Willis and another dentist on January 18, 2019 for membeship on the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry.

Though it got about the fewest Facebook shares of any post we’ve ever published, our most recent post entailing Gov. Edwards’ Dental Board appointee Jeet Patel has touched some nerves.  Specifically, the dentist behind the bold effort to block Patel’s confirmation, Dr. Richard Willis, today (April 16, 2019) decided to triple-dog dare Edwards to intervene in the Senate confirmation process to support his Dental Board choice (Patel).  He did so in boldly disseminating the following letter:

As a refresher, let’s take a brief look at Patel introducing himself to his colleagues at the last Dental Board meeting (his first to attend on March 15, 2019):

Patel introduces himself to his colleagues on the LSBD on March 15, 2019.

Edwards would have to do very little to ensure his choice, Patel, is confirmed.  What little would he have to do?  Simple.  All he has to do is place a phone call to Sen. President John Alario and ask him to stop the resistance to Patel dead in its tracks.  Trust us, those four Senators aren’t going to buck a directive from John Alario!

We’re going to be blunt:  If Gov. Edwards refuses to intervene and permits Dr. Patel to endure the humiliation of having been nominated, selected (from three choices, one of whom can only be described as a sore loser in the person of Dr. Richard Willis), and even attend his first meeting of the Dental Board, then it’s not a simple question of Edwards consistently making a total mockery of his West Point Honor Code.  If he doesn’t intervene on Patel’s behalf and demonstrate he’s “got Patel’s back,” then one can only question if he is the soldier anyone would want beside him/her in the Foxhole taking on enemy fire.  So, Gov. Edwards, are you going to exhibit military leadership, or will you merely wilt like a daisy and let Patel be shot down by someone who served on the Dental Board during a period that can only be described as absolute mass corruption?

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Dr. Jeet Patel, who was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry on January 18, 2019, is reportedly not going to be confirmed by the Louisiana Senate due to a full-court press being waged by North Louisiana dentists to block Patel’s Senate confirmation.

On April 20, 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips, Louisiana’s first and only African-American auctioneer, to the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB).  The Louisiana Auctioneer’s Association (LAA), an industry trade group comprised of largely elderly Caucasian men, went into immediate overdrive to block Edwards’ appointment of Phillips to the LALB.

How did they do so?  Six days after Phillips’ appointment, LAA President Wiley Collins distributed this letter dated April 26, 2016 to “Senators, fellow auctioneers, and Association Members” urging for Phillips’ confirmation by the Louisiana Senate not to transpire.  The preceding letter was also immediately placed as a brochure link on the LAA’s website as well as placed on prominent display on the LAA’s Facebook page.  One day prior to Collins’ letter, auction license holder (we’ve yet to see any evidence she’s conducted the first auction) Darlene Jacobs-Levy, a heavy-hitter in political contributions to Democratic candidates, led the charge of auctioneers sending emails to their State Senators to oppose Phillips’ confirmation.

On Thursday, May 5, 2016 (a mere 15 days after appointing him), Edwards caved to the foregoing intense pressure, and he terminated Phillips’ service on the LALB, thus sparing the Louisiana Senate from even having to consider Phillips’ confirmation.  Four days later, on May 9, 2016, Edwards appeared before the Baton Rouge Press Club, where Phillips directly confronted Edwards on terminating him from the LALB.  It’s extremely rare to see someone directly confronting a sitting Governor face-to-face about an action of that same Governor, so let’s take just a moment to see Phillips challenging Edwards’ decision and the “excuse” Edwards gave for his move, shall we?:

 
Phillips confronts Edwards on May 9, 2016 entailing his termination from the LALB four days before.

As is obvious, Edwards point-blank lied (sorry, there’s just no other characterization to make, and we don’t like using the word “lied” unless we feel we have no choice) in stating that, “We made a mistake…..We committed to more people than we should have, and I had to rescind one, and I rescinded yours.”  The simple reality is that the material linked above is 100 PERCENT responsible for Edwards’ action, but admitting that fact, especially entailing Louisiana’s first and only African-American auctioneer in its history as being on the receiving end of Edwards’ caving, would have been a political disaster for Edwards.  That is to say, he couldn’t tell the truth and simply state, “Well, look, a ton of good ‘ole boy auctioneers were mad as hell with me for appointing you in the first place, so I had to go ahead and remove you due to the pressure my office was receiving to do so.”  It was much more convenient to simply break from his much-touted “Honor Code” and lie, and anyone can see him doing so in the video above!

As most Sound Off Louisiana subscribers know by now, Edwards opted to cast his lot with auctioneer Jacob Brown (son of convicted felon Cecil Brown of the Edwin Edwards era) rather than Phillips.  The result, which largely could be expected, is that Brown allegedly stole over $200,000 from taxpayers ($180,000 to State of Louisiana taxpayers and $28,000 to East Baton Rouge Parish taxpayers) to support his drug habit after Edwards officials awarded him state contracts, notwithstanding ethics laws that prohibited Brown or his firm from bidding on those very same contracts!  Of course, in the mainstream media, one never heard a word about the fact Jacob Brown was even an appointee of Edwards.  It’s absolutely amazing that news organizations claiming to be legitimate sources tasked with keeping the public informed can simply overlook such minor details in their reporting on Louisiana State Police’s arrest of Brown.

Speaking of Brown, just to bring our subscribers up to speed, he was scheduled for arraignment in 19th JDC in January of 2019; however, he failed to show up in court, which prompted a warrant to be issued for his arrest.  His sister, Millie Claire Brown, who served as his surety in posting a $75,000 bond, testified that, despite her best efforts, she was unable to locate him to ensure his presence in court.  He has, however, subsequently been located and did appear in court a few days ago.  At that time, the arrest warrant was recalled and the arraignment was continued until June 21, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. in Judge Higginbotham’s courtroom.

Gov. Edwards is now confronted with a nearly-identical situation to Phillips entailing the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry (LSBD).  Edwards appointed Dr. Jeet Patel to the LSBD on January 18, 2019.  Similarly to Phillips, the Dentistry profession’s good ‘ole boy network kicked into overdrive seeking for the Louisiana Senate to decline to confirm Patel’s appointment.

Sound Off Louisiana subscribers are well aware of the many posts we’ve made on the corruption on the LSBD, a fact which is now merely accepted because of the overwhelming evidence of that corruption.  Subscribers are also aware that we began providing video coverage of LSBD meetings on March 15, 2019.  That was the first meeting for Dr. Patel to attend (Edwards flushed Phillips four days before he could attend his first LALB meeting) as a Member of the Board, so let’s take just 30 seconds to watch him introduce himself (and we apologize in that we were attempting to get our camera set up and it pulled away from Dr. Patel on a couple of occasions):

Patel introduces himself to his colleagues on the LSBD on March 15, 2019.

As is obvious in the preceding video, Dr. Patel is excited to serve on the LSBD.  He is now asserting, however, that the March 15, 2019 meeting may be his first and last meeting as he indicates that North Louisiana dentists strongly oppose his appointment to the Board, and we’re told they’re having State Senator Francis Thompson do the heavy lifting and carry the water for them in essentially blackballing Patel from confirmation by the full Louisiana Senate.  We believe there is no better way to educate our viewers on Patel’s assertions than to provide an email he sent to Thompson on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 10:12 p.m. entailing the situation.  Here’s that email with a few highlights included:

At this point, Gov. Edwards is at a fork in the road.  Will he do as he did with Phillips and cave to the obvious pressure of the good ‘ole boy network of dentists, or will he for once show at least a modicum of the “Honor Code” he touted over and over in the 2015 campaign and demonstrate resistance to the dentistry network of good ‘ole boys and stand by Patel?  The ball’s in Gov. Edwards’ court.

We feel compelled to conclude with one final observation.  At the March 15, 2019 LSBD meeting referenced above, Dr. Kenneth Starling referred to some of the past LSBD’s members as “monsters.”  His adjective to describe these members drew the immediate wrath of Patricia A. “Patti” Hanson, the hygienist representative on the Board, who resides in Jennings, Louisiana.  Let’s take a look at what she had to say to Starling when he referenced some past members as “monsters.”:

Dr. Starling calls some past LSBD members “monsters” and draws the immediate wrath of hygienist member “Patti” Hanson.

First, our advice to Ms. Hanson is to grow some thicker skin!  Secondly, based on all of the pure, rank corruption and allegations of outright criminal acts of the LSBD we watched as testimony before the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee on April 4, 2018, Starling was far too kind to merely reference these despicable people as “monsters.”

Finally, if Ms. Hanson may have been (or is) one of those “good” LSBD members, then she had an obligation to join with any such other “good” LSBD members and take action to remedy the mass corruption on the Board!  It’s THAT simple.

That’s what Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns, when he served on Jindal’s LALB, did in his extensive efforts to fight shill bidding (an ILLEGAL practice) in the auction profession!  Were there consequences?  Hell, yes!  The material at the previous link so infuriated the good ‘ole boy network of auctioneers that they demanded that State Rep. John E. “Johnny” Guinn, an auctioneer himself who also resides in the same town as Hanson (Jennings) have then-Gov. Jindal remove Burns from the LALB.  Guinn was only too happy to oblige, and he drafted this two-sentence letter of August 30, 2010 to Gov. Jindal.

Jindal, who by that time was rapidly planting the seeds of what would ultimately cause his initiative to become President of the United States (if anyone can call that ill-fated, feeble attempt an initiative) to be doomed before it ever got off the ground, was only too happy to oblige in terminating Burns’ LALB service on September 10, 2010.

So, Ms. Hanson, unless you can provide us with documentation such as we’ve supplied you above, it sure appears to us you were more than willing to “go along to get along” with these LSBD members.  Accordingly, your taking of umbrage with Dr. Starling as depicted in the preceding video falls on TOTAL deaf ears with us!

If you would like to be added 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.