Grand jury indicts ex-police officer
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A Lafourche Parish grand jury in Thibodaux indicted a former police officer on a single count of malfeasance in office Friday in connection with the arrest of two Assumption Parish sheriff’s trusties who left the jail last year without supervision, prosecutors said.
Former Thibodaux Police Cpl. Rodney Rhodes is accused of filing a report with a false statement of material fact in connection with the trusties’ arrest Oct. 2, 2008, Lafourche Parish prosecutors said in a statement Friday.
Rhodes is also listed in an Assumption Parish sheriff’s report, where he is accused of conspiring with others to allow the trusties to leave the Napoleonville jail to embarrass Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack.
Rhodes is a former Assumption Parish jail warden dismissed by Waguespack .
The trusties, who worked in the motor pool, drove away from the Detention Center without supervision to pick up parts at an AutoZone store in Thibodaux.
The internal affairs report claims Rhodes coordinated the trusties’ arrest by Thibodaux police, as well as on-the-scene media coverage, after receiving a tip from then-Assumption Parish Assistant Jail Warden Lt. Mike Brown.
On Friday, Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon said Rhodes was dismissed after an informal hearing about three weeks ago. Melancon said Rhodes violated internal police policies not related to the allegations in the internal affairs report.
Judge Walter I. Lanier III of the 17th Judicial District Court issued a bench warrant for Rhodes and set bond in the amount of $5,000.
Waguespack was not available for comment Friday. Efforts to reach Rhodes’ attorney failed Friday.
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