Council to investigate claims made against Parish President

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The Lafourche Parish Council narrowly voted to request an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by parish leadership.


The council voted 5-4 on three resolutions, all presented by Councilman Jerry Jones, requesting District Attorney Cam Morvant to investigate both parish administration and Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle in regards to wrongdoing. Councilmen Daniel Lorraine, Armand Autin, James Bourgeois and Michael Gros all voted “no” on all three resolutions, with the remaining five council members approving the measures.

One investigation will look into possible criminal activity by parish administration regarding the manner in which it handles random drug screens for parish employees. The other two will look into malfeasance in office by Cantrelle regarding bribery and extortion.

Cantrelle released a press release with short statements addressing each of the allegations.


“This matter deals with a personnel issue which cannot be discussed publicly,” Cantrelle said about the drug testing investigation.

Cantrelle dismissed both the bribery and extortion allegations by Jones as untrue in the press release.

“These allegations are false and unsubstantiated. The charge is unfounded and scurrilous,” Cantrelle said.


Multiple council members asked Jones for details on the allegations before the vote, but he said he did not want to discuss them before any investigation. Lorraine said the vagueness of the accusations put the rest of the council in a tough position.

“I think if you look at all three of them, you got some strong accusations here. I think you’re putting the council on the spot, you’re putting the district attorney on the spot, unless you can tell us what we’re voting on,” Lorraine said.

Jones did not provide more insight into the allegations after the meeting but said he trusted Morvant to lead the investigation.


“We’re going to give the district attorney a chance to come up with whatever it is. If there’s no wrongdoing, then he’ll say it. I just wanted to bring an investigation on it,” Jones said. •

 

 

FILE PHOTO