Marshal Brian Pope & His Former Attorney Indicted
A Lafayette Parish grand jury has indicted Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope on more charges stemming from his involvement in the 2015 Lafayette Parish Sheriff's race.
According to our news partners at KATC, Pope's former attorney--Charles Middleton--was also indicted Wednesday in connection with the case for allegedly lying to a grand jury in August.
Both men have been ordered to remain within the jurisdiction of the 15th Judicial District Court--comprising Lafayette, Acadia and Vermilion Parishes.
For Pope, the new indictments include the original two perjury cases and three counts of using public money to urge electors to vote for or against a candidate that he was indicted for in August, but adds malfeasance in office to the three latter charges. In, addition, two other malfeasance charges are added for two unspecified actions Pope conducted in June and July.
KATC reports Pope allegedly lied about authoring a mass e-mail about Sheriff Mark Garber's immigration policy and allegedly lied about using sheriff candidate Chad Leger's campaign manager, Joe Castille.
He is accused of--on three occasions-- using tax dollars to fund the press conference that "uncovered" Garber's immigration policy.
With the new indictments, Pope faces up to 35 years in prison and fines of up to $35,000.
In Middleton's case, he is charged with allegedly lyiung to the grand jury about his knowledge of the identity of a person--Mr. Redmond--whose name was attached to a motion prepared for Pope last fall.
"Mr. Redmond" turned out to be Jason Redmond--a political consultant from Baton Rouge--who leads a PAc that spent money on the Chad Leger for Sheriff campaign.
The Brian Pope Campaign Fund contributed $5,000 to Redmond's PAC in November 2015.