NEW ORLEANS MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL IS SEEN ENJOYING COZY DINNER

New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell, 52, was caught dining with her taxpayer-funded bodyguard Officer Jeffrey Vappie, prompting an investigation
Photos showed them enjoying alcohol during Vappie's supposed working hours, leading to his removal pending a probe by the New Orleans Police Department
Incident adds to existing federal scrutiny over Cantrell's past activities, including misuse of funds for first-class flights

The Democrat mayor of New Orleans has been pictured enjoying a cozy dinner for two with a member of her taxpayer-funded bodyguard team.

Latoya Cantrell, 52, was seen dining on the balcony of a restaurant in the city's French Quarter last month while the member of her protection team was still on the clock.

The pictures, which showed Officer Jeffrey Vappie and Cantrell together at the restaurant were promptly forwarded to the Metropolitan Crime Commission (MCC), whose goal is to reduce crime and expose corruption throughout Louisiana.

Despite the pair appearing to consume alcohol (empty wine glasses were spotted at their table), records show that Vappie was supposed to be still on shift at the time of the dinner.

On the day the photo was taken, Vappie billed taxpayers for a full 12 hours of work - from 8am until 8pm. The dinner occurred at around 5:45pm on Sunday, April 7.

The MCC has since filed a complaint with the New Orleans Police Department and pushed for an internal investigation to be launched.

Vappie has now been removed from the mayor's security team pending the NOPD administrative investigation into the dinner.

Depending on the outcome, it could see Vappie either being suspended or fired.

Vappie had been a detective with the City of New Orleans PD since 1997, according to his LinkedIn page.

Cantrell and Vappie had each previously denied any relationship beyond a professional working relationship of protector and protectee - but local news station Fox 8 found the pair spent hours together inside a grace and favor city-owned apartment in the French Quarter.

Bodyguards who spoke to the New Orleans Police Department as part of the investigation into Vappie, described Cantrell as a fiery, demanding boss who was overly familiar with her security detail, expecting them to act as her servants.

Kristy Johnson-Stokes, an officer that worked with Cantrell, told investigators they would be asked to pick her daughter up from school, take her credit card to buy gifts from the department store and water her plants.

Vappie also spent 112 hours at her apartment over a 27-day stretch, and was even seen watering her plants.

Vappie and Cantrell were also recorded leaving the apartment separately late at night and spending hours of the working day inside together.

'This is a social event while he's on the clock, paid by the city of New Orleans. He is not following employment conflict policies, and he's not protecting the mayor, even though he's paid to protect her,' Rafael Goyeneche, President of the MCC said.

'This is a violation of the protocols of the executive protection as well. If it's on-duty or off-duty -- either way you slice it -- I believe it's a violation of departmental rules, policies and protocols,' Goyeneche said.

'So, if he's off duty, and he's dining with the mayor, that would suggest that they're in a social relationship. And if they are in a social relationship, I don't see how he can remain on the executive protection unit team any longer.'

'[Vappie] was simply not doing his job. So, that's an issue right there,' Dillard University political analyst Dr. Robert Collins told Fox 8. 'He's getting paid by the taxpayers. He's not doing the job that he's paid to do.

'He's putting himself and the mayor in danger by not securing the perimeter. He's, in essence, engaging in social interaction when he should be doing executive protection work and actually protecting the mayor and securing the perimeter.

'But the timesheet shows he's getting paid for police work. This clearly shows you that this is not police work happening here.'

Cantrell and Vappie are both already under federal investigation with part of that inquiry looking into Vappie being paid for work he might not have undertaken.

'It shows that they're basically flaunting the law,' Collins said. 'They obviously don't care that they're under investigation. They don't care about appearance. It's disconcerting to see the chief executive officer of the city to basically be actively flaunting the law, when both she and Officer Vappie know that they are under investigation by the United States Justice Department and by the local U.S. Attorney's Office.

'Both the mayor and Officer Vappie know that they're under federal investigation right now. So, they have to know that anytime they go in public together in a public restaurant like this, and they're seen smiling and laughing, that's going to draw eyes. That's going to draw attention. That's going to draw questions.'

This is not the first time the feds have looked into the mayor's activities, as she previously faced a federal probe for taking more than $29,000 worth of first class flights at city expense, violating a policy that requires city employees to use cheaper fares.

Cantrell was charged by the Louisiana Board of Ethics for using premium upgrades for 15 flights over a two-year time frame.

The charges fell under a state ethics law that prohibits officials from receiving anything of value for their public duties.

The politician previously claimed her upgrades were not for luxury but for her health and safety - citing the threat of Covid and 'the world black women walk in'.

Her flight upgrade for a trip to Nice, France - where she attended a jazz festival and a French National Day celebration - cost a whopping $12,988 on top of the base fare of $4,666, according to court documents.

Cantrell spent $2,352 of state money on a first-class upgrade for her domestic flight from New Orleans to San Francisco - a five-hour journey.

She eventually agreed to repay the difference reimbursing the city $28,856 for the 13 domestic flights and two international trips to Europe that she upgraded in October of 2021.

'Anyone who wants to question how I protect myself just doesn’t understand the world black women walk in,' Mayor Cantrell previously said in a statement.

Cantrell took office in 2018 and had a first-year approval rating of 57 percent, according to a periodic survey of voter attitudes by the University or New Orleans Survey Research Center.

That plummeted to 31 percent in a poll the university released last October.

2024-05-04T02:48:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd