City Inspectors Arrested
By: Heidi York
Updated: September 1, 2009
Local law enforcement arrested seven people Monday following a six month long probe by three agencies. It’s all connected to a Community Development program set up to assist the elderly and low income families with home repairs. But that wasn't happening. Now three city inspectors have been arrested and placed on paid administrative leave.
"All three have now been arrested for not doing what they said they were doing, for filling false records and reports of the job they were hired to do through the City of Shreveport,” said Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator during a press conference following the arrests.
The inspectors; Ray Jones, Jackie Mandigo, and Daniel Lacour are accused of signing off on work they knew was incomplete or inadequate. All three were arrested for filing false public records.
"They gave excuses such as we're just lazy or we weren't trained properly,” added Sheriff Prator.
Four contractors were also arrested. Alphonso Williams and James Lester are accused of lying on contractor applications. James Alex and Santana Brown are accused of working without a license. All four face charges of contractor fraud.
"The City of Shreveport has paid these four contractors over the last 18 months, 1.6 million dollars. We're not saying all of that money was misspent. We're just saying these four contractors got that much and much of what we determined was found to be fraud," added Sheriff Prator.
Sheriff Prator says the contractors simply weren't doing the work they were paid to do. And when people complained, city inspectors checked it out but wrote false reports backing up the contractors.
"All three have now been arrested for not doing what they said they were doing, for filling false records and reports of the job they were hired to do through the City of Shreveport,” said Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator during a press conference following the arrests.
The inspectors; Ray Jones, Jackie Mandigo, and Daniel Lacour are accused of signing off on work they knew was incomplete or inadequate. All three were arrested for filing false public records.
"They gave excuses such as we're just lazy or we weren't trained properly,” added Sheriff Prator.
Four contractors were also arrested. Alphonso Williams and James Lester are accused of lying on contractor applications. James Alex and Santana Brown are accused of working without a license. All four face charges of contractor fraud.
"The City of Shreveport has paid these four contractors over the last 18 months, 1.6 million dollars. We're not saying all of that money was misspent. We're just saying these four contractors got that much and much of what we determined was found to be fraud," added Sheriff Prator.
Sheriff Prator says the contractors simply weren't doing the work they were paid to do. And when people complained, city inspectors checked it out but wrote false reports backing up the contractors.
