(Originally published by Citizens for a New Louisiana) — Last month, MC Bank of Youngsville was the target of an attempted ATM burglary. According to information released, a Ford F-250 was stolen in Lafayette and equipped with chains to carry out the heist. Reports from other media sources list the incident as an “attempted” burglary; however, they don’t provide any detail as to whether any cash was actually stolen or any damage was caused to property. As it turns out, this occurrence is not unusual for the City of Youngsville.

In October 2024, during the middle of the race to fill the Youngsville Chief of Police seat vacated by Rickey Boudreaux, another bank was the site of an attempted ATM burglary. According to reports, this attempted burglary occurred at the Youngsville Community First Bank branch. In that incident, police indicated no money was obtained. However, the ATM was damaged beyond repair.

Then, in July 2021, a “suspicious circumstances” report was received at the Farmers State Bank in Youngsville. In this incident, three suspects broke into the ATM using a stolen truck and fled with an undisclosed amount of currency. That seems to be an abnormal amount of burglary activity targeting financial institutions for a city with only five banks and boasting low crime rates.

Youngsville Chief Goes Dark on Crime Reports

Youngsville residents elected a new chief of Police, J.P. Broussard, in December 2024. Broussard ran on a platform that included making Youngsville the safest City in the state, increasing the number of staff on patrol, and promoting transparency. In all fairness to Broussard, some of these things take time, and he has only been at the helm for just under three months. However, transparency isn’t something you work towards. It is something you do!

Our office has followed crime trends in the City of Youngsville for some time. It started when the City, under former Chief of Police Rickey Boudreaux, claimed that Youngsville was one of the ten safest cities in the state. This claim is still referenced on the Youngsville Police Department website. We were skeptical. After all, it is not uncommon to see elected police officials try to ‘sway’ crime statistics or underreport certain crimes, particularly when coming up for re-election. Additionally, we were told that the City crime reporting system was antiquated and didn’t allow for easy tracking of many offenses. But we were shocked to learn that crime reports, which the City of Youngsville Police Department was previously providing, would no longer be available.

Beginning in January of 2025, Youngsville City Attorney Wade Trahan began trying to pass on an “administrative cost” to research and identify records. Louisiana law makes it abundantly clear that except for very limited circumstances, “no fee shall be charged to any person to examine or review any public records…” [LARS 44:32(C)(3)] After much heckling, the records were eventually made available at no cost. But it didn’t end there. If only City Officials would spend the same amount of effort ensuring they follow the letter of the law.

It would be easy to set aside if it were just Trahan’s ignorance or obstacles to transparency. Still, there seems to be a more persistent effort to obstruct the free exchange of public information, particularly with the police department. For instance, in December of 2024, we asked staff at the Youngsville Police Department for the dates of the Mayor’s Court in the upcoming year. We didn’t request documents but simply inquired about the dates because they are not published in a readily available manner like the City Council meeting dates. We were told the answer would cost $1. Residents beware! They may demand money from you if you forget your court date and call to find out.

It Gets Worse

Subsequent requests seeking similar data that had been routinely provided by former Chief of Police Cody Louviere encountered yet another obstruction. Chief Broussard had taken a completely different position on the crime data. His position is that he is not the custodian. What exactly was sought? “Listing of all calls for service for January 12 – 18, 2025.”

In response, Chief Broussard certified under oath that “neither he or [sic] the Youngsville Police Department are in the custody or control of the records/documents requested.” Broussard continued: “…the reason for the absence of the record from his custody or control is that the Youngsville Police Department does not generate or maintain such records, rather, such records are in the custody and control of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff Department and/or the Lafayette Parish 911 Communications District. All calls for service to the Youngsville Police Department are received and handled by the Lafayette Parish 911 Communications District and dispatched by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff Department, and all records generated in connection with such activities are generated, kept, and maintained by these entities.”

Considering that former Chief Cody Louviere never balked at providing the data and that Chief Broussard had previously grudgingly provided the data, what had changed? The best we can tell is that Chief Broussard no longer wishes to provide the data. We even mentioned that Chief Broussard may be a co-custodian of the records, considering he has already demonstrated his possession. Still, we were told to pound sand.

In further explanation, it was stated:

“YPD does not generate or maintain any such records, period. There is no database at the department which stores such information, nor is there a filing cabinet or closet with paper copies of any such records.” The response continues: “You are correct in that YPD has produced these call logs to you in the past, but that was only after obtaining those records from the original custodian.”

We disagree. Not only does the Youngsville Police Department have access to the computer-aided dispatch system, which is used by multiple agencies in the parish, but they can also input data directly into the system and retrieve data from it. How is this any different than most technology that is remotely stored? If the e-mail server is not physically present at the Youngsville Police Department, does this mean the Chief is not the custodian of the e-mails? Or if the Chief decides he never wishes to log in to the remote server despite having access, does that make him any less a custodian?

This is like the Mayor of Killian allegedly claiming a record is not a public record because it is stored in his garage. We can split hairs in debating this, but one fact stands. Youngsville Chief of Police J.P. Broussard, who ran on a platform of transparency, doesn’t want to release data about the number of calls for service in the City of Youngsville. Why?

New Year’s Day Shooting in Youngsville

Another crime of interest involves a shooting that occurred in Youngsville on New Year’s Day. According to information provided to other media sources by the Youngsville Police Department: “Officers were called to a home to investigate a report of an attempted burglary. They found a man with gunshot wounds when they arrived; he was transported to a local hospital where he was listed in stable condition.” If you read that and were wondering what happened, so were we. That is why we requested an opportunity to review the initial report.

While the Louisiana public records law is riddled with exemptions, exceptions, excuses, and downright conflicting language, it is pretty clear when it comes to initial reports. The unequivocal language appears Within the most commonly cited section of the public records law about ‘law enforcement exemptions’: “…the initial report of the officer or officers investigating a complaint,… shall be a public record. The statute goes on to list specific information that must be contained in the initial report, including: “a narrative description of the alleged offense,” “the name and identification of each person charged with or arrested,” “time and date of the alleged offense,” “location,” “property involved,” “vehicles involved,” and “names of investigating officers.”

The narrative description, if we can even call it that, provided by the Youngsville Police Department report simply states: “Shooting at Youngsville residence.” The report narrative they produced actually contains less information than what was released to media outlets. There is no mention of any attempted burglary, nor does that description provide what is generally required under the law in an initial report. Louisiana courts have held that the “reporting officer or officers may not defeat the purpose of disclosure statute by including only selected information in the initial report and placing remainder in the subsequent report.” The initial report “does not merely refer to a document, but to the information contained in the documents, and it is this information, comprising all the facts learned by the officer or officers who conducted the initial investigation of a complaint, that is a matter of public record.”

No Arrest Made

What the report we reviewed did indicate is that there were at least two possible criminal offenses committed (attempted burglary and aggravated battery) and two suspects under investigation. Although information is skimpy, it appears that a resident of the home may have fired shots at an alleged burglar outside the home. The distance between the resident and the alleged burglar is unknown. It is also unknown whether the burglar was retreating or actively trying to make entry into the home at the time the shots were fired.

What is known is that a Springfield Armory .223/556 caliber rifle was seized as evidence and that a glass window to a bedroom was damaged. The report does not indicate any spent casing cartridges were collected. However, we know shots were fired. The report and other records also don’t indicate that either suspect was arrested and booked into jail. We cannot determine if either suspect has an active arrest warrant at this time, thanks to Sheriff Mark Garber.

Sources also tell us about possible discussions between officials at the Youngsville Police Department and judiciary members. Allegedly, a judicial official indicated (without being presented with an affidavit seeking an arrest warrant) that under the circumstances, he would not sign an arrest warrant if it were presented. Not because probable cause didn’t exist but because he had a personal issue with doing so. We have not been able to confirm this yet, but this is exactly the scenario that prompted Senator Jay Morris (R 9/10) to bring a constitutional amendment to crack down on judicial misconduct. For those who remarked that doesn’t happen here, well… it just may be occurring.

It Goes On…

Then, there was that arrest made last week against Chun Ping “Eddie” Lau. We have been reporting on this for months. We were the first to report Louisiana’s election interference issues in “Fake text messages” in Penalty Flag: Fake Political Texts Raise Legal Questions in Senate 23. Our coverage continued with “Fake Texts, Stolen Signs, and Louisiana’s Troubling Political Tactics.”

We took it further by lodging a complaint with the Youngsville Police Department. That complaint was filed on February 6, 2025. When we followed up on the complaint on the morning of March 13, 2025, it didn’t appear that it had ever been assigned to an investigator! We were told just to contact the officer who initially took the complaint if we had further information. Later that day, we were also the first to report that another law enforcement agency had arrested Lau for the same conduct that had been lodged with the Youngsville Police Department. Why was nothing done?

Lau was the campaign manager for Broussard during his run for Youngsville Chief of Police. During the March and December of 2024 campaign, Lau pocketed more than $25,000 from J.P. Broussard. But it doesn’t stop there. Sources also tell us that J.P. Broussard hired Lau to work for the Youngsville Police Department following his election. We are waiting for records from the Youngsville Police Department to confirm this, but we have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the source. In fact, we know that Lau later benefitted from political campaigns he worked on by being employed by the election winner’s agency.

Lau was paid by Jason Willis, the Mayor of St. Martinville, during his campaign for that seat. Later, he was hired to perform work for the City of St. Martinville. Lau has also been a paid consultant for the Breaux Bridge Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. Are we naive enough to think that the misinformation allegedly spread by Lau is confined only to political campaigns? Or could more propaganda be spread through these government-controlled websites and social media accounts?

Tussle at City Hall

Back to Youngsville – In response to a public records request to the City of Youngsville seeking surveillance footage at City Hall, we were recently told: “some of the footage requested on that date [February 1, 2025] and at that approximate time is the subject of a criminal investigation.” What criminal activity occurred on this date? Well, it probably isn’t what you expect. It is not as sexy as misappropriation of public funds or malfeasance in office, but you should always stay tuned for those sorts of things. 

The crime Trahan is referencing seems related to an altercation between City of Youngsville Chief Operating Officer Terry Bourque and a local business owner. As a result of that incident, both individuals were cited for simple battery.

At this point, we should all take an honest look back at the last two years and recognize them for what they are. The coverage that brought scrutiny to the City of Youngvsille following the Kayla Reaux incident and the Rickey Boudreaux ordeal were just highlights in an ongoing, unchanging mess. Stay tuned—there are sure to be plenty more scandals and bloopers coming to the spotlight.