FBI Raids Hammond Police Department & Tangipahoe Parish Sheriff’s Office
FBI Raids Hammond Police Department & Tangipahoe Parish Sheriff’s Office
Tangipahoa, LA.– FBI agents raided two police headquarters Thursday morning in Louisiana as the result of an ongoing Department of Justice investigation. The investigation has surrounded the New Orleans field division of the DEA. The task force has been under investigation for allegedly stealing drug dealer’s money, selling confiscated narcotics and tampering with witnesses.
The DEA’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General and the FBI are all involved in the investigation of the DEA task force. The case surrounds multiple agents in the task force and two task force members are currently facing federal charges as a result of the ongoing investigation. Thursday’s raid was a continuation of the case which has been kept mostly secret over the last year. According to sources, the FBI confiscated computers, cell phones and case files during Thursday’s raid. Both buildings were shut down for hours as the FBI agents conducted multiple interviews and fully executed their search warrants. Non-essential personnel were sent home for the day and visitors to the police departments were directed away by FBI agents.
“They’re basically treating these buildings like crime scenes,” an unnamed official reported. The Department of Justice investigation has been digging deeper and deeper in to this case for the last year. During the investigation several task force members have been charged, put on modified duty or suspended indefinitely. One former task force agent that is under investigation is Chad Scott, a 17-year veteran of the department and a longtime DEA agent who referred to himself as “the white devil.” He has been ‘sidelined’ by the DEA, stripped of duties but it is unclear if he has been charged yet. He is believed to be at the center of the continued investigation.
Scott had a practice of pipelining young officers into task force agents for the DEA. Two other former task force agents were charged during private hearings earlier in the year, one being a prodigal of Scott, named Domingue. Domingue has since pleaded guilty to state conspiracy charges and spoke openly about the culture of the DEA task force. It “was a practice that was already in place when he came on board, and he inserted himself in that sort of in that circle,” said Bruce, the Justice Department Investigator. Domingue is said to be a key witness for the State and is believed to be in hiding.
Scott is facing accusations of breaking multiple rules within the task force, including stealing money, selling narcotics and using narcotics. The investigation in to the task force is expected to have a severe impact on current and former cases involving the DEA task force. Multiple defendants have begun seeking a new trial and the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney has admitted to dismissing a number of cases in which the task force was involved.
The overall shakeup has prompted shifts in leadership and appointment of a new special agent in charge. “The investigation is ongoing, with many more investigative actions to take place,” said Jeffrey Sallet, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans office.
