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Central mayor wants more thorough audit of police department after officer's payroll fraud arrest
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CENTRAL - Central Mayor Wade Evans is concerned with the state of the city's police department following the recent arrest of one of its officers for payroll fraud.
Former Lt. Huey Haley is accused of stealing more than $24,000 from the department through incorrect timesheets.
"I was shocked," said Evans. "He's one of our longest-tenured officers. He's always done a great job."
Evans says he was not kept in the loop about the investigation.
"I found out about the investigation third-hand, about three weeks after it started, which troubled me."
According to Louisiana law, any time there is evidence of a public official misappropriating funds, the agency's head must notify the district attorney and legislative auditor immediately.
Evans says when he found out, he did just that. However, he believes Chief Roger Corcoran should have told him about the investigation sooner since he believes, as mayor, he is in charge of the department.
"I feel like he doesn't understand the chain of command since he didn't call me," said Evans.
Corcoran maintains, as an elected police chief, he is head of the department and did not need to give Evans a heads up.
Louisiana law essentially excludes police departments with elected chiefs from the mayor's purview.
Regardless, as part of the city's annual audit, a contracted auditor sat down with Corcoran and his lead investigator to go over everyone's time sheets. The results of that audit were discussed at Tuesday night's city council meeting.
"Outside of the one individual, we did not find any significant exceptions as far as time sheets," said Jacob Waguespack with Faulk & Winkler.
Evans says he wants a more thorough audit of the entire department.
"I want to make sure we are using our taxpayer dollars wisely, not frivolously wasting them due to bad payroll practices. It's my hope that through this we'll have some policies in place and have better accountability with our payroll and time," said Evans.
He believes there may be issues beyond time sheets.
"We also have a fuel card issue. I want to make sure we are using our fuel cards correctly. I want to make sure we aren't buying gas for things that aren't city business."
Corcoran sent WBRZ a statement saying,
"The mayor is not in my chain of command, and, even if he were, a sensitive and confidential investigation, such as the one with Mr. Haley, requires us to maintain the secrecy of the investigation to protect its integrity. He was notified out of courtesy when the time was appropriate. I appreciate the mayor’s concern related to police department expenditures, but they are my expenditures to make the way I see fit. If I recognize any issue with improper use of public funds, I will take swift action by notifying the proper authorities just as I did in Mr. Haley's case."
Evans says he plans to follow up with the legislative auditor on the first of next year.
Haley, who was arrested last month for payroll fraud, has not yet been charged for additional counts the Central Police Department claims to have found dating back to 2020.
District Attorney Hillar Moore tells WBRZ he has not yet had time to look over the evidence.
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