For the first time in history, a sitting mayor of New Orleans has been hit with federal criminal charges.
A grand jury in Louisiana has indicted Mayor LaToya Cantrell on multiple counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and abetting wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to a grand jury.
Federal prosecutors allege Cantrell — a Democrat — misused around $70,000 in public funds to cover out-of-state travel with her police bodyguard, Officer Jeffrey Paul Vappie II. Destinations included Los Angeles, Orlando, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates.
Vappie was not just a member of her security detail. According to the indictment, he and Cantrell were in a personal and intimate relationship. Prosecutors claim the pair worked together to cover their tracks, using encrypted messages and deleting communications to hide the nature of their connection.
The indictment is the result of a nearly three-year investigation.
Baton Rouge’s WBRZ-TV reports additional details, including allegations that Vappie searched for information about the 1992 Kevin Costner–Whitney Houston film The Bodyguard, in which Costner’s character has an intimate relationship with his client, played by Houston:
“It’s irrelevant that it’s romance or that it’s female. What is relevant is that it is an incredible breach of the public trust. It’s an incredible betrayal of people’s confidence in their own government, and it’s a violation of innumerable federal criminal laws,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Louisiana’s Eastern District Michael Simpson said Friday.
Attorney General Liz Murrill said she will be “monitoring this matter closely.”
“New Orleans deserves leadership that is honest, accountable, and dedicated to serving the public and making the City safe, clean, and economically sustainable,” she said. “These are serious charges.”
Cantrell’s indictment caps off a federal investigation in 2022. A grand jury just started hearing evidence from prosecutors in February 2024 and returned an indictment last September against building inspector Randy Farrell, charging him with conspiring to bribe Cantrell with about $9,000 in gifts in 2019. These gifts included NFC Championship Game tickets, a lunch at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and a cell phone, all in exchange for causing the firing of a city official who had been investigating Farrell for alleged fraud, WWL reported.
Businessman Randy Farrell also appears in the case. Prosecutors say he traded perks — Saints tickets, meals, even a cellphone — in exchange for Cantrell firing a city employee who was looking into his company. Both Farrell and Vappie had previously faced related charges.
As of this article’s publication, Cantrell has not made a public statement. Her lawyer and her office have declined to comment.
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A Demonocrat woman ! Who would have ever guessed it ?!?!