Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Police (LSP) Lt. James Jefferson III embraces his attorney, Jill Craft, after his Motion for Summary Disposition was granted by the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) on Thursday, February 12, 2026.

On February 6, 2025, LSP Lt. James Jefferson III was arrested by Baton Rouge City Police on allegations of domestic abuse with child endangerment, to wit:

2/6/25 WAFB Feature on Jefferson’s Arrest

On April 15, 2025, DA Hillar Moore formally announced that he would not be pursuing charges against Jefferson, to wit:

4/15/25 WAFB Feature on DA Moore’s announcement of no prosecution of Jefferson

It should be noted that this March 26, 2025 WAFB feature essentially served as a prelude 20 days before Moore’s just-linked announcement.  From that feature:

Based off of reviews of evidence and reports, District Attorney Hillar Moore told the I-TEAM Wednesday the charges are likely to be dismissed against James Jefferson.

Jefferson was arrested for one count of domestic abuse battery with child endangerment last month. Officers who responded say they observed fresh scratches on Jefferson’s hand. But now, we’ve learned prosecutors are reviewing the case and there are serious questions about whether there was even probable cause to arrest Jefferson.

The arresting officer who put Jefferson in handcuffs was placed on administrative leave following Jefferson’s arrest. Baton Rouge Police said the officer was placed on leave on February 27th. He was moved to desk duty on March 11, which restricts him from driving a unit or working extra duty.

Sources told the WAFB I-TEAM there were problems with the arrest that night, and upon further review of other cases involving the same officer, there was a problem involving evidence in a different case. Sources said that’s what led to the officer being put on leave and then desk duty.

Phillip “Bert” Callais, lead Plaintiff in Callais v. Landry, the redistricting case pending before the United States Supreme Court entailing the map which reconfigured U. S. Congressional District 6 which prompted then-incumbent Congressman Garret Graves not to seek reelection and provided the pathway for eventual-candidate Cleo Fields to return to the U. S. Congress after about a 28-year hiatus.

Visitors to our blog may recall our October 14, 2025 feature in which former Grant Parish DA Ed Tarpley referenced Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill as “disgraces.”  Tarpley’s basis for referencing Landry and Murrill as “disgraces” stems from his contention that they combined to, “author this unbelievable District.  This gerrymandered District…..giving the seat (of former Congressman Graves) to one of the worst Democrats in the world, Cleo Fields.”

Understandably, Landry was not pleased with Tarpley’s commentary, so he had one of his on-staff attorneys, Brett Robinson, make a request for him to speak remotely to the audience (Tarpley had also addressed the audience remotely).  Obviously, Landry’s request was granted, and he emphasized that Louisiana citizens need to respect the hard work of him and Murrill.

Recently, we had the opportunity to interview the lead Plaintiff (there are 11 other Plaintiffs) in the redistricting case, Phillip “Bert” Callais, and he provided his thoughts on Landry and the map Tarpley referenced in his lambasting of Gov. Landry:

Callais conveys his sentiments regarding Gov. Landry’s 10/14/25 statements countering former Grant Parish DA Ed Tarpley referencing Landry as a “disgrace.”

Callais is actually most passionate about “election integrity,” and he contacted Sound Off Louisiana to be afforded an opportunity to “sound off” about his very strong resolve to strengthen Louisiana’s voter integrity to include his strong advocacy for paper ballots:

Callais “sounds off” regarding his strong resolve for strengthening Louisiana’s “voter integrity” and calls upon citizens to actively participate in the process.

At several points in the interview above, Burns references this January 5, 2026 appearance of Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Burns’ recollection of her statements entailing paper ballots, etc.  We have provided the direct link to Landry’s presentation so, as Burns states on the video, if he didn’t properly state Landry’s thoughts on anything (Burns was going on memory), blame him (Burns), and not Landry!

Qualifying for the election of May 16, 2026 is now closed, and anyone can view qualified candidates for any race here.

For anyone who may be confused on the matter, be aware that the existing maps for the U. S. Congress WILL be the maps used for the upcoming elections!  Any ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court regarding redistricting will not affect the maps for the upcoming elections.

Finally, as everyone is surely aware, our endorsed candidate for the U. S. Senate race, State Sen. Blake Miguez, had to pivot after President Trump convinced Fifth Congressional District Congresswoman Julia Letlow to run against Bill Cassidy for his U. S. Senate seat.  Miguez is now a candidate to replace Letlow, and he has our full and enthusiastic support in his quest to replace her.

Further, Burns, being in the Fifth District, will obviously be voting for him.  In coming weeks, Burns may opt to produce a Sound Off Louisiana feature entailing one of Miguez’s opponents for whom Burns is extremely frustrated!

Regarding the U. S. Senate race, we are not making any public statement about whom we intend to support.  The only point we wish to make is a statement of fact:  Media reports going all the way back to May 10, 2025 demonstrate that Gov. Landry has pushed for Letlow to enter the U. S. Senate race and further that he lobbied Trump to endorse her.  So, clearly, Letlow is (and has been for a long time) Landry’s “chosen one” for the race.

Recently, Louisiana Treasurer (and former U. S. Congressman) John Fleming, who has been and remains a candidate for that U. S. Senate seat, openly stated that Landry had done as reported by the AP above regarding Trump/Letlow, causing Landry to essentially lose all composure (he’s pretty good at that!) with Landry going so far as to say that Fleming, “may not be fit to hold office.”  From the just-linked feature:

On Wednesday, while signing up to run for the U.S. Senate race, Fleming publicly said Landry had been working for over a year on a “scheme” to help win Trump’s endorsement of Letlow.

Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday fired back at Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, who is running in a competitive U.S. Senate race against incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Julia Letlow, after Fleming accused Landry of orchestrating Trump’s endorsement of Letlow.

“Anyone who makes stuff up like that may not be fit for office,” Landry responded in a statement Thursday.

As we indicated above, that’s likely the last anyone will hear out of us on the U. S. Senate race, but rest assured, the television airwaves will be filled with ads by all three major contenders for that U. S. Senate race.

We want to thank Bert Callais for reaching out to Sound Off Louisiana and, as we indicated on the video above, he is welcome to return to provide updates or any other thoughts he may have at any time.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (photo courtesy of The Advocate).

Gov. Landry’s choice to head Louisiana State Police (LSP), Robert Hodges.

As 2025 drew to a close, we informed our site visitors that we’d have a number of problematic acts of LSP Troopers upon which we would be reporting as 2026 got underway.  We already published this January 14, 2026 feature entailing the dramatic “fall from grace” of former LSP Trooper T. J. Doss, who spiraled downward from being Chairman of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) to “technically resigning” effective August 23, 2025.

In that feature, we named the trooper (Doss) but refrained from outlining his alleged misconduct which resulted in an Internal Affairs investigation which preceded his resignation.  We refrained from providing that specificity because there were slight variations between our multiple sources entailing the alleged conduct of Doss, so we opted to just refrain from reporting upon his acts completely.

In today’s feature, we’re doing the opposite.  We’re divulging the alleged acts (see the headline of, “sending pictures of his male genitalia to females with one recipient being a minor”) but declining to identify the trooper.

The main reason we’re doing that is because we believe the core focus of the trooper’s alleged act should be upon the consistent blocking of public records on the part of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, which we firmly believe, (with Gov. Landry’s full blessing and encouragement) has emboldened LSP Col. Robert Hodges to, in our firm opinion, outright abuse “letters of counseling” to avoid revealing to the public the true depravity of many of the troopers under his command.

In fact, we would submit that both Landry and Hodges enjoy flaunting the use of the “letters of counseling” for the sole and exclusive purpose of keeping the public in the dark.  After all, that is the core premise behind WAFB’s lawsuit against LSP, for which a scheduled hearing will transpire on February 26, 2026, and we most certainly intend to attend and report upon the result of that court hearing!

For us (though we think we speak for many on this matter), these acts are absolutely unforgivable on the part of Gov. Landry, who began his term as Governor demonstrating that he would be Hellbent on blocking public records, and he has consistently maintained his steadfast opposition to the public being afforded access to public records from the day he was sworn in until the day he leaves office, which we sincerely hope will be at 12:00 noon on Monday, January 10, 2028, which is exactly 702 days from the day we’re publishing this feature!

Let’s present our video discussion of this latest act of an LSP Trooper with former Ascension Parish Sheriff Deputy C. J. Matthews, whose entire career he placed on the line to hold another Deputy, Fred Corder, accountable for acts substantially similar to this latest LSP Trooper’s acts entailing his genitalia being sent to an underaged female:

Former Ascension Parish Sheriff Deputy C. J. Matthews provides his thoughts entailing Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and his steadfast resolve to block the public from obtaining what should be public documents to alert the public to problematic acts on the parts of LSP Troopers, with specific focus on one trooper having allegedly sent photos of his genitalia to several females, including at least one underaged female.

Here are links for materials reference within the above video feature:

=== Our extensive series of features on Matthews’ attempts to hold former Ascension Parish Deputy Fred Corder accountable for his acts entailing a 16-year-old Donaldsonville High School female.

=== Livingston Parish News feature with former Congressman Garret Graves’ quote on not running for the Fifth Congressional District seat.  Let us emphasize that quote now:

This is not the time nor office that makes sense.

It is our belief that Graves is likely sending a cryptic message that, while this time nor office makes sense, it’s our firm belief that he knows just how vulnerable Landry is, and the office which does make sense is the Louisiana Governor’s race, which will transpire next year!

For those who desire for Landry to serve a second term (and that number seems to us to be dwindling daily), Graves is likely their worst nightmare.  Furthermore, what’s that popular saying?  Something like:  “Payback’s a b#@ch!”  For those who may not follow politics that closely, it was Gov. Landry who oversaw the drawing of a map for a second minority Congressman, and he specifically targeted ousting Graves in that process!

=== Our 12/16/25 feature entailing LSP Col. Hodges being in the running for U. S. Marshal.  As Burns states in the video above, Hodges himself made it known on or around the next day, December 17, 2025, that he was no longer a candidate for that U. S. Marshal position.

=== Feature in which a gentleman in a wheelchair tells former LSP Col. Lamar Davis, “Ya’ll worse criminals than us!” [See last video on the feature].

Finally let’s present our correspondence to and from LSP on this latest despicable act on the part of yet another LSP Trooper:

Our email exchanges seeking the trooper’s investigative file.  From that correspondence:

First, our request:

Any and all documentation substantiating the fact that [Redacted] has resigned as a result of sending pictures of his genitalia to several females including at least one underage female while in uniform and on duty. Please also provide any documentation that substantiates the fact that the parents of the underage female opted not to pursue charges but wanted him terminated.

Followed by LSP’s response:

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety, Public Safety Services has reviewed your request and has determined that the records requested are exempt from disclosure under FOIA for the following reasons:
Letters of counseling or other investigations that do not result in discipline – LSP Comm Rule 12.9 provides that Letter of Counseling are not considered “public.” Any investigation that does not result in discipline is not considered “public.”

Next, let’s provide our direct correspondence with LSP public information director Captain Russell Graham:

First, our inquiry:

By way of this email, I am requesting the date of resignation of [Redacted] along with any commentary LSP may wish to make entailing that resignation with particular focus on any conduct [Redacted] may have engaged in which served as the proximate cause of the resignation.

Now, Graham’s response:

[Redacted] resigned from the agency [Redacted].  It was voluntary resignation; you would have to reach out to him for an answer on his reason for resigning.

Somehow, we kind of think we know why he resigned, but that’s not that important to us.  What is important is the lengths that Gov. Jeff Landry and LSP Col. Robert Hodges will stoop to to keep the public in the dark regarding the true state of reckless and irresponsible conduct of many LSP troopers under their direct command and which has occurred on their watches.

Seven-Hundred-Two (702) days left until we’re hopeful this nightmare ends via a brand new Governor being sworn into office at 12 noon on Monday, January 10, 2028!  Who knows, perhaps that new Governor just may be Garret Graves!  We guess “payback can indeed be a b&*ch!”