[StBernard] Parish raids storage unit owned by former St. Bernard President Taffaro

[Westley Annis]

Parish raids storage unit owned by former St. Bernard President Taffaro

wwltv.com
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Updated today at 5:51 PM
David Hammer / Eyewitness News
Email: dhammer at wwltv.com | Twitter: @davidhammerWWL

A deputy assigned to St. Bernard Parish Government raided a storage unit
owned by former Parish President Craig Taffaro on Tuesday and seized boxes
of parish records. A federal judge has ordered the parish to turn the
records over to her by 11 a.m. today as a part of the U.S. Justice
Department's ongoing civil rights case against the parish.


In an affidavit supporting the parish's search warrant, Sgt. Jarrod Gourgues
testified that the parish is investigating Taffaro for allegedly violating
the state's law against injuring public records. He also testified that
Taffaro told the parish attorney, Bill McGoey, that he "had indeed removed
(parish) files from the government building.

But Taffaro's lawyer, Henry Klein, said those statements are false. He said
Taffaro directed his employees to scan all of the documents and keep copies
of them in the parish's computer system after he was defeated in his bid for
re-election last year. Klein said Taffaro only kept copies, not originals,
and that he wanted the files in case he needed them for the lawsuits that
continue against his administration.

Gourgues testified that a parish employee checked some of the 19 boxes
seized and found time sheets and documents related to the Redfish Cup
tournament.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan issued a subpoena ordering the documents
be turned over to federal court. U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan has
asked St. Bernard Parish to turn over documents in the ongoing case related
to alleged racial discrimination in the parish's housing policy under
Taffaro.

Taffaro is now the head of Gov. Bobby Jindal's hazard mitigation office.