Yesterday, FBI agents raided the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Hammond Police Department in connection to corruption allegations surrounding a Federal anti-drug task force. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards is the brother of Governor John Bel Edwards.

The TPSO is being investigated for possible ties to the corrupt activities of that anti-drug task force. Among the things the task force is accused of doing is stealing money from drug dealers and selling confiscated drugs. Two  TPSO deputies have been indicted already in relation to the task force’s crimes.

From The Advocate:

The day-long raids shuttered two government buildings in Hammond, as agents conducted interviews and carried out at least two search warrants related to a year-old inquiry into a New Orleans based U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force accused of stealing cash from drug dealers, selling confiscated narcotics and tampering with witnesses. Two former members of the task force — both of whom worked for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office — face federal charges, and one pleaded guilty earlier this year to state drug conspiracy charges.

Thursday’s searches marked an overt escalation of the misconduct probe, an investigation that has been steeped in secrecy for months as investigators dig into the background of several task force members, including Chad Scott, a long-time DEA agent who has been suspended indefinitely and stripped of his badge. Non-essential personnel were sent home, law enforcement sources said, and visitors were steered away from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office and Hammond Police Department.

“They’re basically treating the buildings like crime scenes,” said one law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the operation.

[…]Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards, the brother of Gov. John Bel Edwards, remained inside the Sheriff’s Office for the first several hours of the search. After lunch, the sheriff climbed in his SUV and drove past a group of reporters without commenting. His cellphone appeared to be turned off most the day.

It appears that JBE’s brother is running a corrupt law enforcement agency in Tangipahoa Parish. The Feds apparently took computers belonging to him and his department. At very least, his agency became a recruiting for corrupt cops.

What allegedly has been happening is that drugs have been walking out of evidence lockers and put back on the street. In a sense, these dirty cops have been their badges to steal product from their competitors and they simply turn it around and sell it themselves. It’s an open question as to how high up the chain of command the knowledge of these dirty deals are.

The Edwards family has been involved in Tangipahoa law enforcement for generations. There have always been rumors of dirty dealings involving Tangi cops. It seems the Feds are getting ready to find out just how true those rumors are.

At this point, it’s easy to picture Daniel Edwards driving down I-55 in a white Bronco, on the phone to JBE trying to get a pardon.