A couple of New Orleans City councilmembers are repeating their calls for a third-party investigation into New Orleans Police officer Jeffrey Vappie, after reports that the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau investigation of Vappie has been compromised.
Vappie had been assigned to Mayor LaToya Cantrell's security detail as her bodyguard. Divorce filings by Vappie's estranged wife accuse him of having an affair with an individual identified as "Mrs. L.C.," and dates of the alleged encounters listed in the filing match up to dates when Vappie was with Cantrell at the city-owned apartment in the Lower Pontalba building off of Jackson Square.
The city's Office of Independent Police Monitor had concerns that material related to the investigation had been mishandled, concerns apparently confirmed in a news release issued jointly by the New Orleans City Attorney and NOPD PIB on Wednesday:
"Immediately upon receipt of such allegation, the Administration began an internal investigation into these charges," City Attorney Donesia Turner said in the release. "Our collective investigation revealed the referenced flash drive was inadvertently released by the Law Department to a HANO board member in response to the City Council’s directive to exchange records in advance of a special meeting."
Jeffrey Vappie is a member of the HANO Board of Commissioners.
PIB Deputy Superintendent Keith Sanchez said in the statement that "there is no breach of any kind within the Public Integrity Bureau."
Turner said the law department has taken steps to set up additional safeguards to prevent an incident like this from happening again.
Councilmember Joe Giarrusso is not satisfied.
"This release creates more questions than answers," said Giarrusso. "If the Public Integrity Bureau (PIB) is not finished with this investigation, then the investigatory materials should only be in their hands. The City Attorney's office shouldn’t be in the middle of this. This is the reason we called for a third-party investigation."
Council President J.P. Morrell says the case needs to be handled by someone outside NOPD.
"This investigation is completely compromised. When we asked the Federal Consent Monitors to take this case in-house due to potential conflicts, this is exactly the outcome we feared would happen," said Morrell. "PIB has previously admitted they voluntarily shared it with interested parties. NOPD should immediately turn over this investigation to the Independent Police Monitor for complete review and allow her office to take it over, as it is apparent that the Federal Consent Monitor is disinterested in getting involved in this mess."