By: ELIZABETH WEST
Associate Editor
In a public announcement released on Wednesday, Evangeline Parish Sheriff Eddie Soileau provided up-to-date information concerning the investigation into the sheriff’s office’s recent budget shortfalls, as well as his feelings about the special meeting that was held by the Evangeline Parish Police Jury in August.
The letter stated that “phase one of the investigation”, which is being conducted by the sheriff’s office and the department’s CPA firm, “is complete.” The sheriff’s statement then went on to say, “The CPA firm and I have discovered due to improper bookkeeping practices, transferring of monies from one fund to another, and cover ups by the guilty since 2015 have led to the budget shortfalls.”
Since determining how his department fell into this predicament, the sheriff’s office is now working to get things back in order.
In Soileau’s letter, he says, “With the guidance of our CPA firm, the proper steps are being taken to get the budget back on track. The CPA is overseeing the corrections that are needed to be made to the administrator’s office, and also the handling of the budget. This will ensure that this kind of problem never happens again especially on my watch, I promise this to you the public.”
A potential step in the right direction to fix the budget will be taken today with a public meeting being held at 9:00 a.m. at the sheriff’s office to amend the June 30, 2017 budget.
With phase one complete, the sheriff then outlined what information the public can expect to receive once phase two of this process is wrapped up.
When speaking about phase two in his letter, Soileau said, “This phase will inform the public of all the findings from the investigation thus far. I will break down all the problems that led us here. I assure you the public that you will know everything.”
To allow the public to better understand how the finances work, the sheriff plans to release a statement in the near future that will explain “how both the Civil and Criminal Departments are funded, where the funds come from, and how the funds are spent.” According to Soileau, this “will be a complete picture of the budget broken down in detail.”
In his letter, Soileau then went on to say, “I have been your sheriff for almost 9 years, and public servant for 20 years. I can confidently tell the public that I have nothing to hide from you. I will do my best to see that you are happy with all the information you will need to come to a satisfied conclusion.”
The sheriff’s letter then focused on why he feels the EPPJ called a special meeting in August, and his reasons for not attending.
Soileau stated that “the meeting was supposedly held to get information about the budget, but the problem was there was no information to get or give at the time. It was too soon in the discovery of the problem and investigation. That did not stop the Evangeline Parish Police Jury from conducting a “witch hunt,” and I was the hunted. This meeting was held to get the attention of the public away from the fact that I have been telling the Evangeline Parish Police Jury for 5 years, as recently as August 9, 2016, that my budget was being seriously underfunded.”
The police jury’s response to these issues, according to the sheriff, has been “that they (EPPJ) were broke so I (Soileau) was responsible for finding my missing funds from somewhere else.”
In his letter, Soileau then went on to state, “I feel they (EPPJ) took the “monkey off their back and with total disregard for myself and our office and just threw me under the bus.”
In Soileau’s opinion the only thing accomplished at this meeting was “a bunch of name calling and wrong information,” and this is why the sheriff says he did not attend.
Soileau stated, “I was not going to say something, or just anything to the public in the very beginning of the investigations, as there was just questions and no answers at the time.”
The Police Jury told The Gazette that they plan to discuss the sheriff’s statement at the group’s Monday, Sept. 12th meeting.
The sheriff then closed out his letter with a promise and some advice.
Soileau said, “I promise to you the people of Evangeline Parish that I will provide the best services that I can with the monies at hand, just like I always have. I live here too, and I love this parish. I was born and raised in Evangeline Parish so I am fighting for you the public whom ultimately I answer to. You are my Boss, and I have only to answer to you since you have elected me your sheriff.
“Ladies and gentlemen of Evangeline Parish I ask of you to support your 2nd amendment right of the United States Constitution of the United States of America, as may be in the near future the only protection you may have. If able, do what you “think” you need to do to protect the lives of you and your family. NOT YOUR PROPERTY!
“Thank you to the great citizens of Evangeline Parish.”