BATON ROUGE — A sweeping corruption probe by Attorney General Liz Murril has led to a string of indictments tied to several high-profile government programs, with arrests beginning roughly one year after the state launched its investigation in late 2024 at the request of the FBI.

Court documents say the fraud happened between 2021 and 2024 and affected several government programs.

Housing for Heroes

The first person implicated was Bradley Brown, a developer for the city-parish-run Housing for Heroes program. Court documents accuse him of trying to defraud three banks of more than $1.2 million and stealing $25,000 from the city of Baton Rouge.

Brown received more than $6 million in federal money to build affordable housing for essential workers during COVID. Those projects were ultimately approved by the Metro Council.

Capital Area Transit System (CATS)

In January, former Capital Area Transit System Chief Administrative Officer Pearlina Thomas was indicted alongside Jarion "Jay" Colar. According to investigators, Thomas used her position to approve a $50,000 contract to Colar's company, Supreme Solutions Consulting.

That company was previously owned by Cleve Dunn, who was also indicted. His company, Core Group LLC, reportedly received a $33,000 cut of the contract with the Capital Area Transit System.

A grand jury then indicted married couple Erica and Terral Jackson on Jan. 21. Investigators say Thomas also awarded a contract to the Jacksons' company, Broad Innovation Marketing Firm, to work on a COVID-19 mitigation research grant. They told investigators they used the money instead to "galvanize the public to vote for the upcoming CATS millage."

Safe Hopeful Healthy Initiative

In 2021, then-Mayor Sharon Weston Broome launched her Safe Hopeful Healthy initiative in response to COVID, addressing everything from crime to blight and opening opportunities for fraud.

In February, Broome's former Chief Administrative Officer Courtney Scott was indicted for reportedly helping Veronica Mathis secure contracts for her company, Build Brand Design. Mathis' company received more than $700,000 and Scott's company, Byan Group, allegedly received a nearly $200,000 cut.

Around the same time, Scott was caught on camera hitting a man who also works closely with the city-parish over the head with a chair. She resigned shortly afterward and had no comment when WBRZ tried to speak with her as she was leaving jail.

In April and June, various Metro Council members were called to testify before a grand jury at the attorney general's office. Councilman Daryl Hurst was the only member to show up with an attorney.

"I will say the one thing that I want people to know that if you get subpoenaed to testify for a traffic accident, it's no different than what happened today," Hurst said. "You're a potential witness or an expert in a certain area. Just because you get a subpoena, it's not an indictment."

In July, the indictments picked back up when Roderick Shannon, a self-proclaimed entrepreneur, was charged with receiving more than $3,000 for services he did not provide, also tied to Safe Hopeful Healthy BR events.

Blight Program & Mayor's Healthy City Initiative

The Jacksons were then indicted again, this time alongside East Baton Rouge Schools Superintendent Lamont Cole. In August, Cole was accused of receiving kickbacks after helping the Jacksons secure contracts during his time as mayor pro tem between 2022 and 2024.

The couple is accused of getting multiple contracts totaling $600,000 with both the Safe Hopeful Healthy BR program and the blight program. Cole allegedly accepted more than $40,000 in bribes.

Cole issued a statement calling it a miscarriage of justice and said he feels he will be vindicated.