Four LSP Troopers Arrested Following Investigation Into Overtime Fraud

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The Louisiana State Police on Monday arrested four troopers — two current and two former — on allegations of payroll fraud, accusing them of bilking a traffic-ticket program by claiming extra-duty hours they did not work.

The arrests followed a nearly six-month investigation of the Local Agency Compensated Enforcement, or LACE, a traffic enforcement program funded by district attorneys around the state.

Taken into custody were troopers Daryl Thomas and Wayne Taylor and former troopers Byron Sims and Jimmy Rogers.

Rogers was booked with malfeasance in office and 74 counts of injuring public records in Calcasieu; Thomas was booked on felony theft and two counts of filing false public records in East Baton Rouge Parish; Sims was booked with felony theft and four counts of filing false public records in East Baton Rouge Parish; and Taylor was booked with malfeasance in office and 14 counts of injuring public records in Rapides Parish.

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Thomas was paid $147,000 in overtime in both 2015 and 2016, thanks in large part to the LACE, a statewide traffic-ticket program intended to raise money for district attorneys, public defenders and other law enforcement agencies. Participating district attorneys reimburse State Police for extra-duty shifts worked by troopers.

A months-long investigation by WVUE-TV, of New Orleans, found that Thomas and other troopers routinely abused the program by claiming hours for time they actually spent at home. The station documented one day in which Thomas claimed to have worked 16 hours when WVUE's undercover cameras observed him at his home for much of that shift. Two days after that, Thomas again claimed to have worked a 16-hour day even though he was at home for at least six of those hours.

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Thomas, who joined the State Police in 1995, logged questionable time sheets for years, often charging taxpayers for as much as 80 hours of overtime per week. He was previously suspended for four days in 1998 for filing false paperwork in which he inflated the hours he worked during a LACE shift in St. Charles Parish.

When confronted with the discrepancy, Thomas first claimed he had worked an extra hour because he "had trouble getting (his) tickets," adding that it took him "longer than normal" to write them, according to State Police records.

State Police have insisted for years that there is no ticket quota associated with the LACE program.

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