SORRENTO, LA (WAFB) -
Investigators who spent
the last two months investigating complaints against the Sorrento Police
Department said the agency needs to clean up its act.
Sorrento has been the
focus of several investigations for more than a year. In August, a long list of
allegations of wrong-doing within the police department fell into the hands of
23rd District Attorney Ricky Babin. They included claims of payroll fraud,
private use of public funds and destruction of evidence.
He called on the Ascension
Parish Sheriff's Office to investigate.
"Although I think they
(Sorrento) did a poor job, the sheriff found no criminal activity as far as
malfeasance allegations, and I agree with their conclusions," Babin said.
While he does not believe
a crime was committed, Babin said some of the findings indicate the Sorrento
Police Department needs a serious overhaul.
"The police chief has
allowed officers to use private vehicles for certain details. I think the issue
there was record keeping."
Babin said there were nine
instances where officers were overlapping the time they recorded working for
the town and special duty detail.
He said Chief Earl Theriot
was keeping bi-weekly records of timesheets when he should have been doing it
daily.
But the most concerning
finding Babin said the sheriff's office found was the Sorrento Police
Department's failure to properly handle evidence.
"They need to adopt an
evidence gathering, evidence storing and evidence disposal procedure."
Chief Theriot told 9News the
findings in the investigation were about what he was expecting. He said he intends
to take the recommendations from the district attorney into consideration and
start rebuilding a new and better policy at the police department.
Babin said the sheriff is
still investigating an allegation involving a missing weapon that was seized by
Sorrento police. He said it is not clear where the evidence came from and why
it left Sorrento's possession.
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