FORMER COUNCILMAN ARRESTED

Missouri man charged with sexual battery, accused of aggravated incest with Lafourche victim
June 7, 2017
BALL NEVER STOPS!
June 8, 2017
Missouri man charged with sexual battery, accused of aggravated incest with Lafourche victim
June 7, 2017
BALL NEVER STOPS!
June 8, 2017

Choctaw lies northeast of Thibodaux but southeast of Chackbay, springing from a thicket of woods at the end of Laurel Valley Road’s miles of growing cane. An oasis of wooden houses and trailers line the main street, as well as the small nubs of deadends on either side.

Some of the properties belong to a former Lafourche Parish councilman, Mike Delatte, whose business both personal and commercial has been a source of gossip. Most of the businesses in the town bear the Delatte name, owned by various family members.


Last Wednesday it became more than that, with the issuance of a grand jury indictment for felony theft, in relation to allegedly fraudulent Section 8 housing vouchers. According to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, an investigation found that Kemitra Banks, also of Choctaw, was receiving Section 8 housing assistance obtained through the Lafourche Parish Housing Authority to live in a trailer owned by Delatte. However, investigators learned the trailer was vacant, with Banks living at Delatte’s home and Delatte receiving the money from Banks’s housing assistance. Delatte and Banks turned themselves into authorities and were released from the Lafourche Parish Detention Center after posting $10,000 bonds on Thursday, leaving behind their booking photos. Banks was close to scowling. Delatte, inexplicably, bore a Cheshire Cat grin.

The case was a topic of conversation at the one-story watering hole in Choctaw called Delatte’s Bar. Owned by a different member of the Delatte family, it is an open-room stop where locals locals pop in and out for a quick beer or a pack of smokes.

Some keep the smoke inside the bar, playing one of the video poker machines at the far end of the room, where most lighting is provided from the open front door and those same machines.


Friday afternoon at Delatte’s, a cluster of locals watched Louisiana State University’s baseball team. A lizard, also seemingly local and a Saints fan, crawled across the hardwood floor and set up shop on a Saints-themed “WHO DAT” poster lining the wall. Conversation ranged from the quality of LSU’s performance to the quality of green beans one patron received.

“He waited too long. They’re old beans – the beans fall out of the pod when you cook them. You can still eat them, but they’re not as good,” the patron explained between sips of Budweiser.

On the topic of Delatte and Banks, the conversation ranged from the relationship between the two to detailed legal analyses. They discussed what an indictment entails, making sure to note Delatte and Banks’s still-presumed innocence, as an indictment means a grand jury only decided there was enough evidence to charge someone


‘He wanted too long. They’re old beans – the beans fall out of the pod when you cook them. You can still eat them, but they’re not as good.’

with a crime and is not a conviction. They noted the gravity of the charges, noting Section 8 assistance comes from the federal government. The conversation also touched on the racial aspects at play with Banks, who is black, and Delatte, who is white, living together. This was not the first time the interracial relationship was brought up in conversations with locals, but they all stressed they were only noting the relationship and not being critical of it.

“He was double-dipping, trying to get the brown sugar and the regular sugar at the same time,” another patron said.


When a reporter’s presence was announced the patrons said they had no comment in particular, and did not wish to share their names. They said they knew no details and wished to let the situation play out. Conversation soon shifted to weekend plans, with one going to a concert in New Orleans but saying figuring he would go back home that night.

The Times tried to contact Delatte at his grocery store, up the road from the bar, and left a message. The Lafourche Housing Authority was contacted but deferred to LPSO for information.

Officials have not said whether the U.S, Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the Section 8 program, will take matters involving the case further.


Delatte, who is divorced, once enjoyed great popularity as a local politician. He was grand marshal of the Choctaw Fire Department and Louisiana Police Jury Association Drainage Committee. He had served on the North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District Board and the Lafourche Parish Fire District No. 8, as well as the Lafourche Parish 911 Board.

Some residents of the area – who also didn’t wish to be named – suggested that their former councilman had no intent to defraud, that Banks had been living in the trailer but only recently cohabitated with Delatte.

“He was a big-wig,” one resident and business owner said. “But he ain’t no more.”


Former Lafourche Parish Council Member Michael Delatte (left) and Kemitra Banks (right) were each indicted on one count of felony theft in relation to an investigation of Section 8 housing assistance. Delatte and Banks each turned themselves into the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office and were released on $10,000 bail.

COURTESY | THE TIMESFORMER COUNCILMAN ARRESTED