In what prosecutors described as a year-long plot to conceal a personal relationship with her bodyguard, who is accused of receiving payment as though he was working even while they met alone in homes and went to wine tastings at vineyards, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted on Friday.
Cantrell, who has fewer than five months until she leaves office due to term restrictions, is charged with conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction. After been elected twice, the first female mayor in New Orleans’ 300-year history is also the first to be prosecuted while in office.
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In reference to Louisiana’s infamous past, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson stated, “Public corruption has crippled us for years and years.” And this is very important.
Jeffrey Vappie, Cantrell’s bodyguard, was already charged with wire fraud and making false statements. He entered a not guilty plea. Cantrell was included in the case after a grand jury delivered an 18-count indictment on Friday.
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They are charged with using WhatsApp to exchange encrypted communications in order to evade detection, after which they erased the exchanges. The indictment depicted the relationship as intimate and personal, despite the mayor and Vappie’s claims that it was solely business.
An email and phone call from The Associated Press asking for comment were not immediately answered by the mayor’s office. Since July 15, when she claimed that crime in the city was at an all-time low, Cantrell has not posted anything on her official X social media account.
According to Simpson, Cantrell and Vappie sent over 15,000 messages on WhatsApp, including attempts to harass a citizen, erase evidence, mislead FBI investigators, and eventually commit perjury in front of a federal grand jury.
Vappie claimed to be on duty when they first met at an apartment, and she set him up to go on 14 trips, according to Simpson. She regarded the visits as moments when they were really alone, he added.
According to the prosecution, taxpayers in New Orleans paid over $70,000 for Vappie’s trip.
According to Simpson, Cantrell lied in an affidavit claiming that she had turned on a feature on her phone that erased texts automatically in 2021 when, in fact, she hadn’t done so until December 2022, a month after the media started making assumptions about the couple’s behavior.
According to Simpson, Cantrell reported the incident to the police and requested a restraining order after a private citizen got pictures of them eating together and sipping wine.
In 2024, Vappie stepped down from the police force.
Cantrell and her remaining supporters have claimed that her administrative authority at City Hall has been undermined and that she has been unfairly singled out as a Black woman and held to a different standard than male officials. But Simpson denied that any of it had anything to do with the inquiry.
He told reporters that the accusations were a stunning loss of people’s trust in their own administration and that it didn’t matter if it was romantic or female.
During his tumultuous second term, Cantrell, a Democrat, has clashed with members of the City Council and has escaped a recall attempt in 2022.
According to Monet Brignac, a spokesman for City Council President JP Morrell, “Today is a sad day for the people of New Orleans.” As the Cantrell family works through this trying time, our prayers and thoughts are with them.
Her civic prominence has diminished as Cantrell enters her last months in office, alienating allies and erstwhile confidants. Political watchers claim that her self-inflicted injuries and acrimonious disputes with an antagonistic city council overshadowed her early accomplishments. After the city’s charter was amended by voters to limit the mayor’s power, her position has become less important.
Cantrell claimed earlier this year that she had received extremely rude, demeaning, and in certain situations, unthinkable treatment.
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Reporting from Mission, Kansas, was Hollingsworth.
