By: ELIZABETH WEST
Managing Editor
On Friday, Evangeline Parish Sheriff Eddie Soileau released a statement in regards to a situation involving theft from the EPSO at the hands of one of its own employees.
The sheriff’s release stated that “there is sufficient evidence to suspect that an employee has compromised some deposits of monies within the agency.”
A quote from Soileau was also provided in the release, which read, “The results of our internal efforts, which are ongoing, have been and will continue to be shared with Louisiana State Police who have agreed to join the investigation to help determine the details of the theft. We have notified the Louisiana Legislative Auditor regarding this most serious matter as well.”
Sources close to the investigation have confirmed that EPSO employee Bobby Jo Fontenot has confessed to misappropriating funds at the sheriff's office.
This situation remains under investigation.
This isn’t the first time the EPSO has experienced a situation such as this one.
In September of last year, former Chief Civil Deputy Rebecca Devillier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor with seven years suspended; five years of active and supervised probation after her release.
She was ordered to pay restitution to the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office in the amount of $114,981.00. Devillier was charged with performing her duties as the Chief Civil Deputy in an unlawful manner with the Sheriff’s Office by diverting funds and issuing checks to herself, unauthorized use of credit cards, etc. over a span of approximately 3 years.
Devillier is currently serving out her sentence at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.