New Orleans mayor indicted over allegations of trying to hide relationship with bodyguard
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell was accused of a year -old plan to hide a romantic relationship with the protection of prosecutors of being paid as if they were paid even when they came together in the apartments and accused of traveling to vineyards for wine taste.
Cantrel faces accusation of conspiracy, fraud and obstacle less than five months before leaving his post due to the period limits. . First female mayor New Orleans’s 300 -year -old date was selected twice, but now he became the first mayor accused in the office.
US lawyer Michael Simpson referred to Louisiana’s bad -fame history and said, “Public corruption has crippled us for years .. “And this is extremely important.”
CANTREK’s protection Jeffrey Vappie, Already facing charges to make wire fraud and wrong expressions. He claimed he was not guilty. A large jury returned a 18 -census indictment that added Cantrell to the case on Friday.
They are accused of exchanging encrypted messages via WhatsApp to prevent detection and then delete the conversations. Mayor and Vappie said that their relations were absolutely professional, but the indictment described it as “personal and sincere”.
The mayor did not respond immediately to a phone message or E -mail looking for a comment by Associated Press. Cantrel has not sent a message to the official social media flow in X since July 15, when the city said that the city has experienced historical decreases in crime.
Cantrel and Vappie used WhatsApp for more than 15,000 messages, including efforts to harass a citizen, delete evidence, and make false explanations for FBI agents.
Simpson met in an apartment while claiming that Vappie was on duty and said he arranged his participation in 14 trips. The authority added that it was described as “when they are really alone”.
The prosecutor said New Orleans taxpayers paid more than $ 70,000 for Vappie’s trip.
Simpson said that Cantrell was lying to a declaration, and that the media activated a function that automatically deleted messages in 2021 when the media did not really activate this feature until December 2022 a month after the start of the couple’s behavior.
When Simpson took a picture of a private citizen to eat and drinking wine together, Cantrell prepared a police report and sought a restriction order.
Vappie retired from the police department in 2024.
Cantrel and the rest of the allies, unjustly targeted as a black woman and City Hall in the executive authorities with a different standard of male authorities, he said. However, Simpson claimed that anyone played a role in the investigation.
In his statement to journalists, he said, “Romanticism or a woman is insignificant ve and added that the allegations were kanıt an incredible betrayal of people’s trust in their governments”.
Cantrel, a democrat, clashed with members of the Municipal Assembly in a turbulent second period and escaped from an effort to recall in 2022.
“This is a sad day for the New Orleans people, Mon said Monet Brignac, a spokesman for the City Council, JP Morrell. “Our thoughts and prayers are wandering with the Cantrell family in this difficult time.”
In the last months of the office, Cantrell alienated the former confidants and supporters and withdrew the civilian profile. Political observers say that their first achievements were shadowed by their own wounded wounds and painful blood feuds with a hostile city council. The role of the mayor weakened to prevent his authority after the voter approved changes in the city’s regulation.
Earlier this year CANTRELL in question “In some cases he received a very disrespectful, humiliating” treatment.
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
