One month after the Metropolitan Crime Commission obtained a photo of Mayor LaToya Cantrell and her bodyguard, New Orleans Police Officer Jeffrey Vappie, having dinner at a French Quarter restaurant surfaced, more photos of the pair at a French Quarter bar have come to light. According to MCC officials, those pictures show Vappie drinking while on the job. The photos, those officials say, contradict Vappie's testimony to investigators that he and Cantrell were not engaged in a personal relationship.
According to a letter from MCC president Rafael Goyeneche to NOPD Public Integrity Bureau Deputy Chief Keith Sanchez, the photographs were taken on July 28, 2022, at Doris Metropolitan on Chartres Street. The pictures show Cantrell and Vappie sitting at the establishment's bar. Vappie is holding a glass of wine while another glass of wine sits in front of Cantrell.
In the letter, Goyeneche says the photo's metadata indicates that they were taken at 8:19 p.m. and 8:20 p.m., times that, according to NOPD documents, Vappie was on the clock.
"Officer Vappie's NOPD shift appears to overlap with the time he was photographed drinking wine with Mayor Cantrell while potentially armed," Goyeneche wrote in his letter.
Goyenence notes that the photographs point to Vappie violating several NOPD policies.
"He's on duty. That means he's carrying his firearm. That's a violation of departmental rules," Goyeneche told WWL's Newell Normand. "Officer Vappie was on the clock with the police department supposedly protecting the mayor."
Vappie's other rendezvous with the mayor around the time these photos were captured played into the PIB's previous investigation into Vappie for possible payroll fraud and possible violations of NOPD professionalism rules as they relate to his relationship with Mayor Cantrell. According to documents filed with the federal judge overseeing the NOPD's consent monitor, investigators discovered that Vappie "would sit at the table with the mayor and have dinner at restaurants, which is a violation of his Executive Protection Training." Despite this and Vappie's admission that he would "work out" with the mayor and shower at the city-owned Pontalba Apartment that Cantrell occupied until March, Vappie told investigators that his and Cantrell's relationship is only "professional."
That investigation led to Vappie being disciplined for minor rules violations. The notes for one of the sustained violations said that two officers who found out about Vappie spending time alone with Cantrell outside of his regular duty "brought his behavior to his attention and requested that he stop."
Now, Goyeneche is calling on the PIB to investigate Vappie for possibly lying to investigators about the nature of his and Cantrell's relationship.
"This picture predates that statement--this picture of them drinking wine while on duty at a French Quarter wine bar," Goyenenche said. "Truthfulness needs to be also investigated to determine if he gave false statements to PIB back in 2022 when he classified and said with his relationship with the mayor was 'professional.'
"Now that's important, because one of the departmental policies is that it's an employment conflict if an officer is involved in a relationship with either a subordinate or someone that he's serving and protecting, and this is the case with the mayor being his protectee as part of her executive protection team," Goyeneche added.
In his letter to the Public Integrity Bureau's chief, Goyeneche said the newly-obtained photos are a "supplement" to another photo the MCC submitted to the PIB. That other photo, taken in April 2024 outside a St. Peter Street restaurant, showed Cantrell and Vappie dining together outdoor, raising questions as to whether Vappie was on duty; if so, why he would leave the person he's supposed to protect vulnerable to attack; or if not, why Vappie is fraternizing with his protectee outside of working hours.
Goyeneche reiterated that his requests for investigation are aimed not at the mayor, but only at her bodyguard.
"This complaint is not about the mayor," Goyeneche said. "This is about Officer Vappie violating departmental policies."
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