A former Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee is in jail after investigators accused him of stealing tens of thousands of dollars in federal grant money from the sheriff's office.
According to Sheriff Susan Hutson, Kenneth Lawson created a fake company to obtain more than $75,000 in taxpayer dollars. Hutson says Lawson then spent that money on travel, gambling, and other personal expenses.
Lawson is facing theft, bank fraud, government benefits fraud, and public contract fraud charges.
Hutson says two other people are now wanted in connection with a separate investigation into misappropriation at the sheriff's office. In that scheme, the unnamed suspects are accused of falsifying journal entries and issuing unauthorized check disbursements to steal more than $90,000 from the OPSO Inmate Trust Fund. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of those suspects. They face theft, malfeasance in office, and a litany of other charges.
These findings came during a comprehensive review of the OPSO's finances. Now, sheriff's office officials say they will implement a number of controls to prevent theft like this from happening again. Those controls include implementing a cashless system to deposit inmate funds and changing the way the department counts and handles money internally.
The investigation into the theft cases is ongoing.
