Grand Jury exploring possible City Hall corruption meets but session ends with no indictments
BATON ROUGE — A grand jury met Wednesday amid a wide-ranging investigation of purported City Hall corruption but handed up no indictments.
A number of Metro Council members from East Baton Rouge Parish received subpoenas ahead of the session. Councilmen Rowdy Gaudet, Daryl Hurst and Anthony Kenney appeared. After his appearance, Kenney said, "Short and Sweet. Back to the business of District 2."
Council members Denise Amoroso and Brandon Noel were subpoenaed but did not speak to the panel. Former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome has made arrangements to speak to the grand jurors at a later date.
The subpoenas came after Former Capital Area Transit System Chief Administrative Officer Pearlina Thomas and contractor Jay Colar were implicated in an alleged scheme in which Thomas and Colar allegedly made fraudulent and plagiarized reports about pre-agreed-upon contracts to defraud CATS of tens of thousands of dollars. Councilmember Cleve Dunn Jr. was also indicted.
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The grand jury investigation has also resulted in indictments for former Broome administrator Courtney Scott and for Veronica Mathis, whose company assisted Broome's "Safe Hopeful Healthy Baton Rouge" program. They each face allegations including conspiracy, theft, bribery, money laundering and public contract fraud, while Scott is also accused of malfeasance as a government employee.