Troubled New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is now staring down the barrel of very real legal consequences. According to reports, Cantrell was indicted on Friday over misuse of official resources for her affair.
The Lowdown
According to reports, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been indicted on corruption charges over her alleged affair with her bodyguard. They man retired police officer Jeffrey Vappie allegedly subverted rules of his position by continuing an affair with Cantrell while he was during his employment clocked in.
The affair
One local report reports that officials collared Cantrell on a number of instances including several that saw the pair spend time at a city owned apartment in New Orleans’ Jackson Square, in the city’s historic French Quarter neighborhood.
That same report alleges that the corruption didn’t just extend to flashy digs. It also included at least 14 out of state trips where Vappie was meant to be protecting her but instead romancing her. These trips often included stops in United Arab Emirates and Scotland all on he taxpayers dime. Some estimates place the costs to the city at some $70,000 just for the trips alone.
She is the first Mayor in the city’s 307 year history to be charged with crimes by the government while still in office.
In case it couldn’t get anymore scandalous it does. According to he documents against the pair, when investigators caught onto the schemes they allegedly deleted some 15k messages they had exchanged between themselves some even including from an encrypted messaging app.