BATON ROUGE — Attorneys for Superintendent LaMont Cole are asking that the remaining charges against Cole be dropped after a special jury issued a superseding indictment earlier this month.

Former East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor Pro Tempore LaMont Cole turned himself in to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in early August, one day after he was indicted by a grand jury on corruption charges, including allegedly accepting more than $40,000 in cash and gifts in the form of bribes. 

The initial indictment charged Cole, the current East Baton Rouge Parish School System superintendent, with two counts each of conspiracy to commit public bribery and money laundering between $20,000 and $100,000, as well as one count of malfeasance in office. Investigators alleged Cole committed the crime between Aug. 10, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2024.

The new superseding indictment, issued on Oct. 14, charges Cole with one count each of conspiracy to commit public bribery, money laundering and malfeasance in office.

The initial affidavit alleged that Cole "abused his elected position of power" and participated in a bribery scheme with the co-defendants Erica and Terral Jackson where their company "unlawfully received multiple contracts, totaling nearly $600,000." The initial affidavit alleged Cole received $40,000 in both cash bribes and gifts from Terral Jackson and that texts to and from Cole show he "agreed to accept bribes” from Terral Jackson in exchange for steering contracts to Jackson.

The $40,000 is not mentioned in the new superseding indictment. Instead, it reads simply that Terral Jackson and Erica Jackson, in an effort to procure contracts from the city-parish and the mayor’s office, agreed to receive kickbacks from the Jacksons in return for his help in obtaining the contracts.

The Attorney General’s office and Cole were unable to be reached for comment.