Former LSP chief fleeced New Orleans for years, audit report alleges

18th December 2017   ·   0 Comments

Former Louisiana State Police Supt. Col. Mike Edmonson, who retired earlier this year amid a scandal involving state troopers who took side trips to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas while en route to a San Diego, California conference last fall and is accused of destroying evidence that proves he knew of the side trips, took another hit last week when a report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor alleged that he fleeced the City of New Orleans for years during the agency’s Mardi Gras deployment.

A draft audit report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor obtained by The New Orleans Advocate outlines a life of luxury enjoyed by Col. Edmonson and his friends and family free of charge during Mardi Gras over the course of several years.

Lavish hotel rooms set aside to accommodate state troopers deployed to New Orleans during the Carnival season to bolster public safety and assist the undermanned NOPD were in some cases used by the former commander and his family and friends, the audit found.

The rooms were paid for with public funds earmarked for the NOPD.

NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison told WWL News that for years the process of requesting state troopers has been the same.

“We send a letter to the colonel asking for a certain number of state troopers. We then work to negotiate how many troopers we need versus how many he could really supply,” Harrison said in an interview.

Because most of those troopers come in from out of town, lodging is needed and factored into the cost of their deployment to New Orleans.

Placing them in downtown hotels makes it easier for them to work 12-hour shifts, with troopers closer to the city’s center in case something goes wrong.

The Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association seeks out discounts from the city’s hoteliers to help house the troopers.

While the average reveler may spend hundreds of dollars a night to stay in the heart of Carnival, the NOPD would pay as little as $60.

“We figured out how many rooms were needed and then we figured out the funding for that and then the NOPD out of our budget provides the funding for that,” Harrison told WWL News.

Even with the discounts, NOPD records show the City of New Orleans spends more than $23,000 a year to house troopers during that 11-day stretch.

In 2017, the cost climbed to $38,905.

“We asked for more than we would usually ask for Mardi Gras because we had a week of NBA festivities right in the in the middle of Mardi Gras,” Harrison told WWL News.

Last year, the NBA All-Star Game brought even more people to the city and the undermanned NOPD was forced to lean more heavily on the state police.

While the NOPD may foot the bill, the state police assigns troopers and supervisors to the different hotels.

But the draft audit report found that not all of those state police rooms were used by state troopers.

According to the report, Col. Edmonson, “[a]llowed his friends and family to stay in those extra hotel rooms free of charge.”

Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche told WWL News that he is not surprised to hear the allegations Edmonson misused hotel rooms.

“I’ve been hearing about it for years,” Goyeneche told WWL. “Everything I’ve heard is a result of troopers and former troopers and people in the hotel/motel industry providing that information. So, it was a well-known secret.”

Auditors found multiple rooms in Edmonson’s name from 2013 to 2016. One year, the report says two rooms at the swanky Windsor Court hotel in the Warehouse District were assigned to an unnamed state trooper.

That state trooper reportedly told auditors he did not stay at the Windsor Court that year.

And according to the draft audit, Edmonson’s emails showed that the LSP superintendent checked into one of the unnamed trooper’s rooms using his reward number.

In 2014, when the city’s need for security help was critical, the audit says a $310 bill with Mike Edmonson’s name on it for a five-night stay from Feb. 28 to March 5 at the Roosevelt Hotel was paid by the City of New Orleans.

But according to the draft audit, Edmonson was also reimbursed by the LSP for some of those same nights at the Hotel Mazarin.

WWL reported that that bill also has Edmonson’s name and what appears to be his signature on it.

“If those rooms were being used for, by friends of Col. Edmonson and they weren’t troopers and they weren’t doing state police work there, that could be a criminal problem for Col. Edmonson,” Goyeneche told WWL.

Auditors said Edmonson told them that he booked the rooms at the Hotel Mazarin to hold meetings there, but troopers told investigators all their meetings were held a few blocks away at the state police office in the Cabildo.

Auditors also found the NOPD paid for a room at the Windsor Court that was used by Edmonson’s friends in 2015.

The unnamed couple spent five nights at the hotel and paid for $919 in incidental charges and parking on their credit card, but the NOPD paid for the room that was in an unidentified trooper’s name.

Then, in 2016, the draft report says Edmonson let his step-daughter and her friend stay in a state police room at the Loews Hotel for several nights. When they left, troopers moved in.

“I would imagine that there is going to be an investigation into that,” Harrison told WWL News. “The colonel and I always met. We were always in close contact about what he needed and what he could provide. So, I took them at their word that it would be used for the troopers for the purpose of Mardi Gras.”

Harrison said the Mardi Gras deployment of state troopers operated on an honor system, one that may have been dishonored for years at the highest levels of the state police.

“What is disturbing is that it took this long for the truth to be known and I think the reason for that is that people, while disgusted, were afraid to formally confirm for the record what their superior was doing because he was viewed as invincible and he was in a position of power,” Goyeneche said.

WWL reported that Edmonson did not respond to requests for comment and the legislative auditor gave him until Dec. 12 to formally respond.

In a text message earlier this month, Edmonson said he had only received a draft copy of the auditors report two days earlier and hadn’t had a chance to fully review it yet. He said he was preparing a detailed response to the report for Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera and would answer questions about the allegations contained in it once the final audit was released.

“After the information was released today, I called Darryl Pupera and asked him if he had released the report. He assured me that he had not and would not have because it is still a draft report. He said it would have been inappropriate for anyone to have released the report as it was not final,” Edmonson said in a text message.

While that response will be included when the final audit is released by Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera, and the LSP wouldn’t go into specifics, spokesman Maj. Doug Cain said, “We have already made changes based on things that have come to light.”

Edmonson. the longest-tenured LSP superintendent, faces a growing litany of accusations that date back almost a decade.

The auditors determined that Edmonson moved his family into the Department of Public Safety compound “without legal authority,” and that he had the state pick up his utility bills, including cable television and electricity. The compound, known formally as the Residential Conference Center, was built in 2002 and originally was intended to house the governor and State Police superintendent during emergency situations.

The Advocate reported that at some point, the Edmonsons had the residence modified to construct a shoe closet for Edmonson’s wife.

He is also accused of taking advantage of free meals in the state police cafeteria, using the governor’s dry-cleaning service for his uniforms while still being reimbursed for outside dry-cleaning services and using dog-walking services provided by state prisoners.

The auditors noted that Edmonson’s use of the residence — at an estimated value of $434,720 from February 2008 to March 2017 — was not included as a fringe benefit on his W-2 forms, The Advocate reported. It is unclear whether Edmonson paid federal taxes on the benefit, but auditors clearly believe he should have.

The governor’s office declined to comment on the audit report, since the document has not been finalized yet, but said the agency is moving in a better direction under the new leadership of Col. Kevin Reeves, who Edwards appointed to replace Edmonson last spring.

“Col. Edmonson has been gone from that position since March. The agency has been moving in a new direction under new leadership since that time. Yesterday’s report highlighted some serious issues, but Col. Kevin Reeves had made significant changes within state police and continues to make changes to improve state police and to restore its integrity,” said Richard Carbo, the governor’s spokesman, in a written statement.

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who demanded that Edmonson resign after the story of the state troopers’ side trips to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas first broke, told The Advocate last week that it was “clear” those benefits “constituted taxable income” and that Edmonson “should have calculated their fair market value and reported them as taxable income.”

“Col. Edmonson is not above the law,” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Kimberly Robinson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue. “In fact, he took on an added responsibility as a public servant to conduct himself with honor and honesty.”

This article originally published in the December 18, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.