UPDATE: Oakdale police chief, marshal accused of exploiting immigration system for personal profit
These two are among five individuals accused in a year-long investigation into exploiting the U.S. immigration system for personal profit, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook. The investigation is part of 'Operation Take Back America.
Also indicted are Forest Hill Police Chief Glynn Dixon, former Glenmora police chief Tebo Onishea, and Oakdale businessman and Subway restaurant owner Chandrakant Patel.
Patel was booked into a Rapides Parish correctional facility, while all others were released.
During a press conference Wednesday, Van Hook emphasized that all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The 21-page indictment includes 62 counts against the five individuals, with allegations of immigration fraud, visa fraud, mail fraud, bribery and. money laundering.
According to the U.S. Attorney General's Office, the individuals allegedly used profits from this scheme to purchase vehicles, real estate and other luxury items. Those assets are subject to seizure, Van Hook said.
The U.S. Attorney General's Office, Homeland Security Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigations and Internal Revenue Service began investigating the alleged conspiracy to fraudulently obtain hundreds of U-Visas last July, after receiving a tip from another law enforcement officer. The investigation concluded on Tuesday with several arrests and search warrants being executed by multiple law enforcement agencies in Allen and Rapides parishes.
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Jim Beam column:What did those lawmen do?
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Green explained that allegations of this nature compromise the reliability and credibility of police reports, which his office lies on for prosecutions. 'Anytime you have allegations like that it is going to compromise the reliability and credibility of police reports that my office relies upon to prosecute cases,' Green told the council. 'When you have an offender that is arrested there is going to be investigatory material, oftentimes there is a victim that's relying on that, and we have to be able to rely on the correctness of that to convince 12 people to give out justice.' He added that his office has a duty to disclose any issues with a state's case to the defense. Under the new agreement, the District Attorney's Office will not accept any case in which Doyle played a role, nor will they accept cases based solely on non-emergency citizen complaints where the officer was not present at the scene or did not directly witness the incident. Any case requiring follow-up investigation or evidence collection must now be handled by the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office. Cases that will be accepted include those where an Oakdale police officer responds to an emergency in progress or directly witnesses a crime and takes immediate action. Citizens will be directed to the sheriff's office to report offenses and for the investigation of any cases not accepted under the new protocols. 'We are hoping in this unfortunate time this will pave the way for us to continue to have criminal justice at least with cases coming out of the Oakdale Police Department with some level of confidence,' Green said. 'Level of confidence that I would feel comfortable with producing that or filing criminal charges on and having a jury review that and not having to worry about anything else.' 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'Because of what he has been charged with that becomes what's called Brady material that the defense would have a right to bring up his indiscretions against each individual case that he had some input or ability to skew what actually happened,' Hebert said. 'Not saying he would or not, but the appearance of that impropriety is going to be there in every case.' He said the goal is to ensure that all cases, whether misdemeanor or felony, are not compromised and regain public trust in law enforcement. 'Everything is geared around and making sure there's some public confidence that law enforcement is on their side,' Hebert said.
