More concerns have been raised regarding how Mayor LaToya Cantrell is using public resources after new surveillance footage came to light.
We got 45 days’ worth of security footage from a French Market Corporation camera outside the city-owned Upper Pontalba Apartments as part of our investigation into whether Mayor Cantrell was residing there. That footage demonstrated that Cantrell spent a lot of time inside the flat, frequently during the course of the day and occasionally even over night.
Rafael Goyeneche, the executive director of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, claimed that may be a breach of a municipal rule stating that use of city property must be for business-related activities only and not for personal gain.
As we dug deeper into the surveillance footage, we discovered that Mayor Cantrell was also spending hours there with a member of her security staff, raising concerns about what work the two were actually doing while receiving taxpayer-funded salaries.
Mayor Cantrell came at the Pontalba condominium on August 2 at 8:03 a.m. Officer Jeffrey Vappie of the NOPD, a member of her security detail, was with her.
Vappie worked in the apartment for five hours and forty minutes on that particular day.
Between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on that day, we asked Cantrell for her email and cell phone records.
The city retorted that during those eight hours, the mayor didn’t use her cell phone for any business calls and just sent two emails.
There were two sentences in each email. The first, which was sent at 10:56 a.m., concerned a mechanical permit complaint. “Ms. Gloria, forward to Tammie for me,” it said. I apologise in advance.
“Bryan, I appreciate your response and clarity, it counts! ” stated the second email, which was written to someone at the Vieux Carré Commission at 2:06 p.m. I appreciate it very much.
“Since this is a taxpayer-owned facility and these are taxpayer-paid staff, it is reasonable to raise questions. Whatever the mayor does while she is at home in her own residence while she is not at work is her business. There won’t be any inquiries on that. The general public won’t be concerned about it, Collins added. “But the taxpayers have a right to know what you are doing in that property when you are sleeping in a taxpayer-owned facility and you have staff who are paid by the taxpayers. Additionally, the general public has a right to know what tasks you are carrying out during such hours.
On 35 of the 45 days we saw the video during our review, Cantrell went to the apartment. On 27 of those days, Officer Vappie made 47 trips, frequently more than once each day, and spent almost 112 hours inside the flat.
Vappie is the only one of the four officers hired to guard Mayor Cantrell who entered the flat. Louis Martinez, Robert Monlyn, and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Ellis, the other NOPD officers, never entered.
We sent a letter to the mayor’s press office outlining some of our findings and requesting a response.