It appears someone spilled some behind-the-scenes tea that led to a local New Orleans news station to launch an investigation into how New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been spending her time and taxpayers. Surveillance video shows an NOPD officer spent many hours inside of her city-owned apartment during the workday and sometimes overnight. Here’s what they found that prompted the police department to start investigating inside…
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been captured on surveillance video spending much of her time during the workday, well, seemingly not doing work.
FOX 8 obtained surveillance video over a 45-day span between August and September 2022 that shows Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans’ first female mayor, spending many hours inside her city-owned apartment with NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie, a member of her security team. The news outlet obtained hours of video footage that shows Mayor Cantrell and Officer Vappie spending time together, often during the workday, and sometimes overnight.
The outlet pieced together the amount of hours Vappie spent inside the apartment to email and phone records from Mayor Cantrell’s devices, and most times, Mayor Cantrell was not active much during the hours Vappie was inside of her apartment.
Dillard University Political Analyst Robert Collins believes taxpayers will have questions.
“It’s fair to ask questions because this is a taxpayer-owned property, and these are employees paid by the taxpayers. If the mayor is off duty, and she’s at home in her private residence, then whatever she does there is her business. Nobody’s going to ask questions about that. The citizens are not going to concern themselves with that,” Collins said. “But when you are staying in a taxpayer-owned building, and you have employees that are paid by the taxpayers, the taxpayers have a right to know what you are doing in that property. And the taxpayers have a right to know what duties you’re performing during those hours.”
It definitely seems like someone tipped someone off to begin checking random surveillance video footage.
Four NOPD officers are paid to protect Mayor Cantrell. Vappie is one of them and the rest are Louis Martinez, Robert Monlyn, and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Ellis. Vappie is the only officer to enter her apartment.
FOX 8 reports:
FOX 8 sent a letter to the mayor’s communications team, laying out some of the findings and asking for a response.
In a statement, the mayor’s office said, in part, “the surveillance and its subsequent publication of the Mayor is irresponsible and puts her and her family’s safety at risk.”
But Collins believes the mayor should be transparent about how she’s spending her time.
“If you are a public official, and you walk into a public building, there is no expectation of privacy, because you are a public official paid by the taxpayers and you are entering a public building that is owned by the taxpayers. The taxpayers do have the right to know what’s going on in the property that they own,” Collins said.
On Aug. 16, about an hour before Vappie clocked in for work, he arrived at the apartment.
Mayor Cantrell missed several public appearances and meetings, according to her city calendar. Surveillance footage compared the times and dates of her missed appearances to her city calendar, and it was revealed she was spending time with Officer Vappie. Video footage showed him entering the apartment several times, sometimes wearing a different outfit than what he wore going inside.
According to her city calendar, Mayor Cantrell was scheduled to make welcoming remarks at a Baptist foreign mission convention at 9:30 a.m. that day. However, she was at the apartment during that time. FOX 8 confirmed with the convention that she didn’t attend but sent someone else in her place. During that time, the mayor also missed a 1:30 p.m. pop-in meeting with Sen. Bill Cassidy’s team.
At 2:16 p.m. Vappie left the Pontalba. He had changed from his workout clothes into a suit.
At 2:37 p.m., seven minutes after a Sewerage and Water Board preparation meeting was supposed to start in her office, Mayor Cantrell left the apartment dressed for work.
According to a response to a records request from FOX 8, Mayor Cantrell didn’t send one email or make one work phone call during the four and a half hours she and Vappie spent in the apartment.
“Taxpayers are wondering, is business getting done? If businesses getting done, are you carrying out your official duties? Are you doing the taxpayers’ business? I think that’s really the questions that the taxpayers would have,” said Collins said.
Officer Vappie was even paid for days when he wasn’t scheduled to be her security guard. On Sept. 9th, Officer Vappie spent 7 hours inside Mayor Cantrell’s apartment. According to her calendar, Vappie wasn’t scheduled as her security; however, he was paid for 12 hours of work that day.
It was also discovered that Mayor Cantrell appointed Vappie to the board of the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and he earned more money than the other NOPD officers on the team. With overtime, he has already made more than $120,000 through September 2022. Vappie joined Cantrell’s security team in May 2021. Folks have questions about Vappie (a public employee) serving on a public board.
“That raises questions, because generally speaking, it’s standard practice not to appoint public employees to public boards. Simply because there could be a potential conflict of interest, especially when you’re dealing with a law enforcement officer. There could be investigations that he may have to oversee,” Collins said.
Oh, and get this…there were several instances where Vappie would attend HANO meetings while on the clock for the police department.
Also, Vappie has accompanied Cantrell on some of her trips. After reviewing travel records, FOX 8 found Vappie is the only officer who flew first class with her. His ticket for that trip to San Francisco cost taxpayers $821.
The mayor’s office issued a statement to FOX 8, but didn’t address the points raised in the story.
“While we do not comment on the Mayor’s executive protection policies and protocols, we do attest to the fact that Officer Vappie and all members of the Mayor’s Executive Protection team personify the level of devotion expected and required as a public servant to the City of New Orleans. We acknowledge their sacrifice and honor their service,” the statement says in part.
Now, the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau has opened an internal investigation into Officer Vappie’s possible payroll violations “based on questions raised,” including whether he logged more than 16 hours and 35 minutes of work in any 24-hour period. Officer Vapppie has been reassigned from Mayor Cantrell’s security team pending the results of the investigation.
By the way, Mayor Cantrell is married Jason Cantrell, who is a lawyer. They have a daughter named RayAnn.
The news outlet wanted to point out that Mayor Cantrell is an elected official and Officer Vappie is an employee, who is her subordinate. The time that they spent together happened on public property, and most of it during the workday. If Cantrell had been with a non-city employee at her personal property, they would not have done the story. What she does on her personal time is no one’s business. The fact that the mayor of the city spent time, often during business hours, with her subordinate at a city owned property is why they believe this is newsworthy.
Do you agree? Was all of this necessary?
Last month, Mayor Cantrell was caught up in controversy for spending $30,000 on first-class and business-class travel expenses. She claimed the upgraded flights were for her safety and that she had no intention of repaying them.
Earlier this month, the city’s chief administrative officer said Cantrell would have to pay the expenses back because she’s a city employee and they’re required to purchase the lowest airfare and pay for upgrades themselves. That’s when she changed her mind to replay the excess charges for her first-class travel after weeks of saying she would not. Peep the clip below:
It’s still unclear when she’ll pay the city back. Thoughts?
EXTRAS:
1. A white Alabama city councilman accused of using racial slurs was arrested after punching the town’s Black mayor. And it was caught on video. STORY
Photos: Instagram/French Market Corporation
