Sound Off Louisiana

Jared Riecke, Member of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), along with his wife, display their middle fingers at the Mystic Krewe of Olymia Parade in 2024 and subsequently post that act on their parts on Facebook.

When we published our most recent feature entailing the abrupt resignation of the long-time Chairman of the LSPC, Eulis Simien, Jr., we quickly shifted focus to be on the expired term of his colleague, Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Riecke’s term actually expired on December 5, 2024; nevertheless, he was present and serving in official capacity at the LSPC Meeting of Thursday, December 12, 2024, which is seven (7) days after his term expired.

LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman informed us at that meeting that it is permissible for a Member whose term has expired to remain on the Commission until the Governor has chosen his or her replacement or, if the Governor so chooses, to reappoint that Commissioner to another six-year term.

We stressed that the process is presently playing out in real time entailing Riecke’s potential reappointment, and we stated the fact that he is the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC.

At the conclusion of the feature, we openly made suggestions to those individuals who have vented to us how upset they are that Riecke even serves on the Commission.

Our suggestions entailed sending an email correspondence to Dillard University President, Dr. Monique Guillory, and we provided her email address of [email protected].  We also strongly encouraged the copying of any such email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected].  Roberts previously served on staff at the Pelican Institute.

It should be noted that, in prior instructions, Dr. Guillory was indicated to be the “Interim” President of Dillard University; however, as announced by Dillard University’s Board of Trustees yesterday, Saturday, December 21, 2024, Dr. Guillory has been named the permanent President of Dillard.

Also, Dr. Guillory provided this message to the Dillard University community expressing gratitude for her selection as the University’s ninth President.

We elaborated that the email correspondence should contain either #1) the individual’s sentiments about a Riecke reappointment, #2) a willingness by the individual to serve in the vacancy, or both.  Of course, whomever serves in Riecke’s position (be it him or otherwise) must be a resident of the First Congressional District in order to be qualified to fill the vacancy.

We do not know how many other individuals may have done so, but we are aware of two people who decided to contact Guillory, and they have made their sentiments known publicly.  We are also aware of one prominent individual who has expressed a desire to serve in that vacancy.  While we’ll refrain from divulging the identity of the individual who has expressed a desire to serve, we will direct focus to the two individuals who have made their sentiments about Riecke known in no uncertain terms.

Let’s begin with Lloyd Grafton, who formerly served as a colleague of Riecke’s on the LSPC, but who resigned, citing his contention that there existed, “no integrity whatsoever on the Louisiana State Police Commission,” and portrayed the Commission as little more than puppets whose only desires were to be, “invited to the Christmas Party and to serve at the feet of the master (then-LSP Col. Mike Edmonson).”

Grafton actually expressed his sentiments as a comment on our prior post, but let’s give them a bit more prominent display, shall we?:

From: W. Lloyd Grafton
Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Subject: Request regarding coming appointments to the La. State Police Commission
To: [email protected]

Dear Interim President Guillory,

I am emailing you to ask your sincere and careful consideration to making appointment suggestions to the Louisiana State Police Commission. It is a very important responsibility, given the recent years of unfortunate and unethical behavior displayed by various previous board members and staff. It is certainly time for honest and wise leadership to usher in a clean slate for our state and for those cadets now entering the training academy.

I served as a member of this commission for 3 years and resigned due to the unbridled dishonesty and actions of the upper management of the Louisiana State Police.  The board was often in turmoil because of the constant refusal of the whole board to force a cleaning up.

It is my sincerest hope that you, in your important position, will take the time to nominate men or women of character and wisdom for foresight into the needed good governance in our state.  Our young cadets need to know we have intelligent and honest standards.

I especially ask that you not return Jared Riecke to another term. His much publicized background has been a disgrace to our state. I wish no harm, but do earnestly support a turn to quality leadership.

Thank you for allowing me to bring this to your attention.

Sincerely,
Wiley Lloyd Grafton
U. S. Special Agent Retired
ULM Retired Criminal Justice Associate Professor

On February 9, 2017 (the day Grafton resigned in frustration from the LSPC), he and Riecke engaged in the most heated exchange we’ve ever videotaped in the nine-year history of this blog.  Grafton, already angered by his contention that Riecke came on the LSPC with an “agenda” to, “get rid of Cathy Derbonne (then LSPC Executive Director),” which, for the record, ended up costing taxpayers approximately $273,000 in the form of a payout to Derbonne, her legal fees, and the legal fees to defend her litigation against the LSPC, didn’t mince his words one iota in making his sentiments known about Riecke.

One of the beauties of a video blog, and videos in particular, is that the videos are forever, so let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit Grafton’s very heated exchange with Riecke on February 9, 2017:

2/9/17:  Grafton & Riecke engage in heated exchange entailing the “resignation” of then-LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne (which Derbonne would assert in a subsequent lawsuit was a “constructive discharge”).

Now on to the second individual who was willing to express her sentiments on Riecke, and that would be Belinda Parker-Brown, who is one of seven (7) Plaintiffs suing the LSPC Members individually, including Riecke, for an alleged Open Meetings Violation.  That alleged violation entails each of the then-Commissioners’ involvement in the St. Tammany Parish DA special election of March 23, 2024 wherein they mailed this letter dated January 20, 2024 to the Collin Sims campaign accusing Sims of presenting LSP Troopers on a billboard in a, “false light to depict those troopers as standing in support of your campaign.”  Let’s see just what all Parker-Brown conveyed to President Guillory, shall we?”

From: Louisiana United International <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2024 10:02 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Attention: Dillard Communication

Dear President Guillory:

I am Belinda Parker-Brown, president of Louisiana United International (LUI) and I have been involved in activism and the investigation of corruption for many years in this area of the state. I’m contacting you today to ensure that you’re aware of some very disturbing information concerning an individual who received an appointment to the Louisiana State Police Commission on behalf of Dillard University, Mr. Jared Caruso Reicke. Mr. Reicke’s first term ended this month and there has been no reported action on his reappointment, but he will remain until removed or until another person has been appointed. We are requesting that Dillard University appoint someone else that would share the same values as your esteemed university.

 

Recently, I had a conversation with Dr. Aesmail and he suggested that we reach out to you with the information that we discussed concerning the appointment. My Criminal Justice Task Force Committee provided me with some of this information that you may find relevant in making your decision. It includes:

• Robert Burns of Soundoff Louisiana wrote an article about the end of his term that may provide some additional insight:

 

https://www.soundoffla.com

 

• Tom Aswell, publisher of Louisiana Voice wrote an article about some of the more nefarious ties of the Reicke family in this article:

 

https://louisianavoice.com/2021/09/21/caruso-riecke-membership-creates-blurry-but-disturbing-line-between-state-police-commission-and-organized-crime-family/

 

• Mr. Reicke has been involved in numerous lawsuits and may have been involved in the murder of one of his business associates, Mr Bruce Cucciara. It is well documented that Mr Reicke was the beneficiary of the $5 million of life insurance at the exclusion of the family of the deceased. Some of that information is detailed in this article:

 

https://louisianavoice.com/2021/09/30/rash-of-court-filings-involving-state-police-commissioner-jared-caruso-riecke-enough-to-induce-migraine-headache/

 

• Further details of the alleged homicide are discussed in the podcast Counterclock:

CounterClock | Season Five – Counterclock Podcast

 

• Mr. Reicke was recorded in a video attacking an individual in his Mardi Gras krewe because of a misunderstanding. Even though law enforcement was present, no charges were filed. This event, which is in the attached video, was during his tenure on the LSP Commission.

• We even have a photograph of Mr. Reicke and his wife that they posted on Facebook as a message to the family of Mr. Cucciara. It is attached. Certainly, this type of behavior doesn’t align with the values of Dillard University.

We could provide many more examples, but this sampling shows that Mr Reicke’s conduct is beneath the level of expectation of your institution. I thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

Respectfully Submitted,

Belinda Parker Brown

Louisiana United International, Inc.

Office: (985)-503-0626

Email: [email protected]

Here is the video Parker-Brown references entailing the “attack” by Riecke, which she provided to us for this feature:

Undated video asserting Riecke tackling a speaker during that speaker’s presentation.

Regarding the photograph referenced in Parker-Brown’s last bullet point,  which was purportedly taken at the Mystic Krewe of Olympia’s 2024 Mardi Gras Parade in Covington, that is the photo which serves as the lead image of this feature, but we’ll present it again at this time:

As we wrap up this feature, we would be remiss if we did not express the sentiments of one retired LSP Lieutenant.  He had some strong sentiments about LSPC’s Executive Director, Jason Hannaman, regarding the section of Hannaman’s December 5, 2024 letter to Guillory which he characterized as, “nothing short of direct lobbying for Guillory to place Riecke’s name on the list and for Riecke to be reappointed.”

From the wording of Hannaman’s letter, which was placed on prominent display in our last feature, with the following segment deemed particularly objectionable by the retired Lieutenant:

he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.

Other individuals whom we contacted about the retired Lieutenant’s concerns expressed similar sentiments.  From our own vantage point, the following wording would seem more appropriate:  “he has indicated a desire to continue serving on the Commission,” and left it at that!

The retired Lieutenant took it a step further by indicating that Riecke’s name should not have been even mentioned in the letter but, instead, the responsibility should be upon Riecke to reach out to Guillory and make any desire he may have to be reappointed made known to her.  His logic is that, by having such wording on the letter to Guillory, it defeats the whole purpose of having the independence of the university Presidents make the selections, and we do find it hard to argue against the point he makes.

So, the deadline for Guillory to submit names (for which she may submit up to three) is Saturday, January 4, 2025, and we have made a standing public records request to receive any correspondence sent from President Guillory to the LSPC.

Should any such correspondence be forthcoming, we intend to publish that communication and its contents in a follow up feature to this one.

If no correspondence whatsoever is received from Guillory, then the sole authority to appoint the next Commissioner rests with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.  We intend to publish a follow up feature as soon as possible after obtaining word that Guillory passed on making recommendations should she opt to go that route.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and it looks like 2025 will get off to an interesting start, especially on the LSPC!

Louisiana State Police Commission (LPSC) Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., prepares to announce his resignation on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Only two (2) Members of the LSPC have served on that body since we began filming the meetings in January of 2017:  Eulis Simien, Jr., and Jared Caruso-Riecke.  Simien has served as Chairman since the  unceremonious departure of then-Chairman (and active Trooper) T. J. Doss occurred after first being videotaped (by Sound Off Louisiana‘s Burns) checking into the Watermark Hotel mere hours after an LSPC meeting.

Ordinarily, there wouldn’t be anything unusual about checking into a hotel; however, since Doss was filmed checking into the hotel with then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella (who also unceremoniously departed mere days after Doss’s departure), it was just one more act which has caused many to openly question just how much “integrity” Members of the LSPC have.

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Simien abruptly announced his resignation.  Here’s a brief video of him doing so along with the praise heaped upon him by Vice Chairman (and active Trooper Member) Monty Montelongo:

 12/12/24:  LSPC Chairman Simien resigns followed by showering of praise by Vice Chairman Monty Montelongo.

There’s plenty we could say about Montelongo’s praise entailing Simien; however, we are going to save that for a future feature because we want to immediately shift gears to the one (1) remaining LSPC Commissioner since the days we began filming:  Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Riecke is, by far, the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC, and his term actually expired on December 5, 2024, but he is actively seeking reappointment to another six-year term which would not expire until December 5, 2030.

Accordingly, on Thursday, December 5, 2024, LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman sent this email to Dillard University Interim President Monique Guillory which contained (as attachments) this documentation explaining the process for submitting names for up to three (3) candidates to serve in Riecke’s position for the next six years.  From the email (sent to [email protected]) and letter:

Importance:High

Dear Interim President Guillory,

I am emailing you to call your attention to the expiring term for the State Police Commissioner representing the 1^st Congressional District. That vacancy, under the provisions of Article X §43 of the Louisiana Constitution is to be filled by a nominee from the President of Dillard University. Today is the end of the term; therefore, the new term commences tomorrow and you have 30 days (starting tomorrow) to submit three nominees to the governor. Please see the attached correspondence relative to this impending vacancy. Due to the time-sensitive nature of filling vacancies, I am contacting you initially through this email correspondence and will also follow up by regular U.S. mail.

 

I appreciate your time and consideration in selecting three (3) qualified nominees for consideration and submitting those nominees to the Office of the Governor between December 6, 2024, and before the deadline of Saturday, January 4, 2025. Due to the time-sensitive nature of the request, you may also forward a scanned copy of the nomination list to my attention and I will forward it to the Director of Boards and Commissions. Please contact me if you have questions regarding the process.

Mr. Jared Caruso-Riecke has served as a member of the State Police Commission representing the First Congressional District since his appointment to an unexpired term by Governor Edwards on June 6, 2016. He was subsequently reappointed to a full term on January 8, 2019. Mr. Riecke is an active member with regular attendance; he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.

The governor is required to make his appointment within thirty (30) days of receiving your list. Should the governor fail to appoint one of the nominees within thirty days, the nominee whose name appears first on the list of three (3) nominees you submitted shall become a member of the State Police Commission, with consent of the Senate. If you fail to submit a list of three (3) names within the allotted thirty (30) days, the governor may select any qualified resident from the First Congressional District for appointment to this commission, with consent of the Senate. The individual selected will fill a new term set to expire on December 5, 2030.

Our website’s visitors may recall this February 1, 2024 feature entailing a letter sent out by the collective LSPC Members concerning the campaign of Collin Sims, who was seeking election to a full term as St. Tammany Parish District Attorney after having served in an interim capacity upon the passing of Warren Montgomery.

In that feature, we highlighted some of the past controversies of Commissioner Riecke, and we repeat them at this time:

3.  Sometime in May, 2023:  Counter-clock podcast entailing the murder of Caruso-Riecke’s former business partner, Bruce Cucchiara.  As Burns explained in the video above, Counter Clock’s reference to Sound Off Louisiana features on Riecke caused a skyrocket in hits to those features and, at the time, Burns had absolutely no idea why those hits were transpiring.

4.  October 30, 2019:  Our replica of the Brain Scratch’s  podcasts focusing on the Cucchiara murder.

 

The Counter Clock podcast referenced above is one of the absolute best and most thorough features of investigative journalism that Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns has ever encountered.  Obviously, the feature centered around the murder of Riecke’s business partner, Bruce Cucchiara, in 2012 (Riecke, after first suing New York Life for payment, received $5 million from a life insurance policy as a result of Cucchiara’s death).

Beyond the Cucchiara murder, however, the feature goes into great depth about the lives of both Cucchiara and Riecke.

In fact, the feature even goes so far as to provide the December, 2005 actual plea agreement (Episode 9) that one of Riecke’s companies agreed to entailing a guilty plea and accompanying alleged-record EPA fine of $2.1 million for violations of the Federal Clean Water Acts, together with $12.862 million in remedial costs for damages associated with those violations (see bottom of page on just-linked document).

The involvement of both Riecke and Simien in the Sims campaign angered a significant number of residents in St. Tammany Parish.  Riecke is alleged to have been a strong supporter of Sims’ opponent, Vincent Winn.  Sims absolutely clobbered Winn by a margin of 69-31 in the March 23, 2024 election.

That anger ran so high that a group of seven (7) St. Tammany Parish residents, incensed by the apparent involvement of Riecke in the DA race, sued all seven (7) Members of the LSPC alleging an Open Meetings Violation entailing the then-collective group’s corresponding with one another to mail that infamous letter to the Sims campaign.

They have been especially vocal about their displeasure of the appearance of Gov. Landry’s name on prominent display on the letterhead and the implicit signal it sent that Landry, like Riecke, supported Winn in that election.  We have inquired of the Landry administration entailing whether Gov. Landry did in fact support Winn over Sims; however, his office declined to respond to our written inquiry entailing the matter.

On September 19, 2024, Belinda Parker-Brown, a Plaintiff in the litigation, served the LSPC with discovery requests which also made inquiry of past alleged problematic acts by Riecke.  We’ll repeat a few of those discovery items at this time:

Please admit that Defendant Riecke had a feature role in a reality television show featuring teams of race cars speeding across the nation’s highways at speeds exceeding 100 MPH.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video making a $50,000 bet on one such racing team.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, a race car team is on video opening the trunk of a car to expose approximately 10 or more license plates for swap out, “in the event our license plate is called out over our inboard police radar scanner.”

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video bragging about concealed radar-detection equipment in the right dashboard of his vehicle.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke, after exposing his inboard radar detection and police scanner capabilities, then replaced the in-board façade dashboard utilized to conceal that equipment and also stating on video that, “police tend to frown on this sort of thing, so….”

So, for all those folk in St. Tammany Parish upset with the fact that Riecke even still remains on the LSPC, we’ll offer these suggestions of actions:

# 1.  Contacting Dillard University’s Interim President, Monique Guillory, via email at [email protected].

and EITHER:

# 2.  Indicating a desire to serve on the LSPC, OR

#3.  Letting any negative sentiments anyone may have toward Riecke being reappointed to another six-year term be known to her.

In addition to sending an email to President Guillory at [email protected], anyone is also welcome to copy that email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected].

The final decision rests with Gov. Landry on whether he wishes to have Riecke serve another six years or not, but we just figured we’d take the process out of the dark secrecy and provide a little sunshine on how the whole process transpires.

We also commit to inform everyone once Landry’s decision is made with regard to both Simien’s replacement (irrespective of how long it may take to find someone of his caliber as per Montelongo) and whomever Landry chooses for the next six years entailing Riecke’s expired term.

LSP Lt. Russell Graham, who was the subject of an absolute joke of a hearing conducted on August 8, 2023 under former LSP Col. Lamar Davis.

Site visitors may recall our October 2, 2024 feature on The Lens / NOLA‘s lawsuit against LSP for the withholding of an infamous $1,000/hour contract for Ed O’Callaghan’s legal services.

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns provides the resolution of that litigation, which concluded with somebody (almost guaranteed us taxpayers) having to fork over $12,500 for LSP’s improper withholding of that $1,000/hour legal contract (The Lens / NOLA had gotten the records months ago).

Here’s the feature wherein Burns reveals, for the first time, just what made him so angry at LSP for declining his first public records request under the then-new Jeff Landry / Robert Hodges / Frank Besson regime:

  12/9/24:  Burns outlines the Lens / NOLA LSP litigation settlement.

As Burns makes clear in the above video, some active LSP Troopers contacted Burns early on in the Hodges regime and asked that Sound Off Louisiana publish a feature wherein they wanted Hodges to receive praise for transferring LSP Sgt. Georgiana Lynn Kibodeaux Sonnier to Gaming in Breaux Bridge.

We told them, just as Burns indicates on the above video, he would first seek a public records request to substantiate all transfers.  Burns outlines the runaround that LSP gave him, which led to his anger and frustration at Hodges et. al.  At one point, LSP declined to even provide the sheer number of transfers even with Burns making it clear names could be excluded.

Further, Burns’ correspondence with LSP’s Nick Manale attempting to at least substantiate the Kibodeaux transfer was fruitless.

As a result of LSP’s stonewalling of providing a public records request that was actually intended to benefit Hodges (or maybe he doesn’t want praise from any of his underlings), we simply abandoned any intent to publish the feature that troopers requested of us.

Much of the glee of troopers over Kibodeaux’s transfer came as a result of this August 8, 2023 hearing entailing LSP Lt. Russell Graham.  As Burns candidly stated in the video above, the hearing was nothing short of a “joke,” and Burns emphasized that, as a young child (even seven or eight years old), he was raised on a 13-acre property which had a 3-acre figure-8 pond which was 32 feet deep, and he lived in that pond!  As he said on the video, he, “may as well have been a duck.”

Burns also indicated that he and his cousins and friends engaged in horseplay on Styrofoam boats knocking one another off into the water that was far more serious than anything Graham engaged in regarding that utterly embarrassing episode of former LSP Col. Davis invoking discipline against Graham over the LSP swimming pool incident.  It was nothing short of complete frustration to see all of the time, energy, and wasted resources of LSP’s internal investigation of Graham!  It was absolutely unbelievable and, being blunt, appeared to us to be nothing short of an unjustifiable vendetta against Graham!

Burns also emphasized on the video that, even at that young age of eight or nine, he would swim from one end of that 3-acre pond to the other where there was nothing separating him but the 32-feet depth of water (at the deepest point of the swim).  If anyone wonders, he was wearing no life preserver, and both Burns and his parents were that confident in his swimming skills (Sidenote:  Burns’ father’s mother, who lived with the family, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck anytime her beloved grandson proclaimed to her that, “I’m going swimming!”).

Here’s a current aerial map of that very same pond (although it’s now all grown up with trees surrounding it and the water level is much, much lower due to a break in the roadway separating it and Hurricane Creek toward the very back of the property):

So, just like many troopers who contacted us, we too were stunned at Davis’ action, and we indicated to them that we would be more than happy to facilitate a feature indicating that Kibodeaux had in fact been transferred to Gaming in Breaux Bridge but, after we hit the stone wall we did with Hodges et. al., we just basically said, “to hell with it,” (and that’s being kind because Burns’ Irish temper is perfectly capable of flaring at times, and it flared to anyone who would listen to him about just how angry he was with Hodges over the handling of that public records request)!

As Burns indicated in the above video, however, we are now, for the first time, publishing the totality of Kibodeaux’s testimony at the August 8, 2023 hearing even though we uploaded the video over a year ago and just kept in in “drafts.”  Here it is:

 8/9/23:  Full testimony of LSP Sgt. Georgiana Lynn Kibodeaux Sonnier at the LSP appeal hearing of Lt. Russell Graham.

Let us not only emphasize the $12,500 of (likely) taxpayer money flushed right down the toilet from LSP’s indefensible action entailing The Lens / NOLA‘s public records request, but also the billings from Breazeale Sachse in defending LSP against the piss poor decisions made by Hodges et. al. regarding that request transpiring right out of the gate as they assumed their positions!

As Burns states in the main video for this feature, hopefully that utterly asinine mentality entailing public records requests is going to soften.

If not, however,  we believe that the fine folks at the First Amendment Law Clinic at Tulane’s  Law School, for whom we express extreme gratitude as we do also to The Lens / NOLA, have plenty more stationery with which to crank out more lawsuits, and we hope they don’t hesitate to file such suits when and if these types of arbitrary denials of public records transpire in the future!