80 N95 masks stolen from New Orleans hospital site; convention center official booked

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The public safety director at New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — where officials are erecting a makeshift hospital for patients infected with COVID-19 — stole 80 masks recommended for healthcare workers battling the deadly disease and was arrested Friday, according to court records. Vernon Giscombe, 58, who has held his position since 2013, faces one count of malfeasance in office, Louisiana State Police wrote in the records. According to troopers, a state Department of Public Safety officer became suspicious when he spotted a woman emerge from the back of the convention center carrying two boxes, which she then placed in a silver sedan about 11:20 p.m. Friday.

The officer stopped the car and learned that the woman and the driver — Giscombe — worked for the state-owned convention center’s public safety department. Giscombe and the woman, whose name wasn’t released, allegedly told the officer that Giscombe had instructed her to throw the boxes, which contained 20 N95 masks each, into his car.

She said the boxes of masks, which are in critically short supply in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic, came from a manager’s office. After being read his constitutional rights, Giscombe admitted he had gotten another employee earlier in the day to bring him another two boxes of the masks, troopers alleged. Troopers said they found that pair of boxes at Giscombe’s home after he gave them permission to search it, and they booked him with allegedly failing to perform his duties to the public.

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