Jared Riecke, Member of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), along with his wife, display their middle fingers at the Mystic Krewe of Olymia Parade in 2024 and subsequently post that act on their parts on Facebook.
When we published our most recent feature entailing the abrupt resignation of the long-time Chairman of the LSPC, Eulis Simien, Jr., we quickly shifted focus to be on the expired term of his colleague, Jared Caruso-Riecke.
Riecke’s term actually expired on December 5, 2024; nevertheless, he was present and serving in official capacity at the LSPC Meeting of Thursday, December 12, 2024, which is seven (7) days after his term expired.
LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman informed us at that meeting that it is permissible for a Member whose term has expired to remain on the Commission until the Governor has chosen his or her replacement or, if the Governor so chooses, to reappoint that Commissioner to another six-year term.
We stressed that the process is presently playing out in real time entailing Riecke’s potential reappointment, and we stated the fact that he is the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC.
At the conclusion of the feature, we openly made suggestions to those individuals who have vented to us how upset they are that Riecke even serves on the Commission.
Our suggestions entailed sending an email correspondence to Dillard University President, Dr. Monique Guillory, and we provided her email address of [email protected]. We also strongly encouraged the copying of any such email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected]. Roberts previously served on staff at the Pelican Institute.
It should be noted that, in prior instructions, Dr. Guillory was indicated to be the “Interim” President of Dillard University; however, as announced by Dillard University’s Board of Trustees yesterday, Saturday, December 21, 2024, Dr. Guillory has been named the permanent President of Dillard.
Also, Dr. Guillory provided this message to the Dillard University community expressing gratitude for her selection as the University’s ninth President.
We elaborated that the email correspondence should contain either #1) the individual’s sentiments about a Riecke reappointment, #2) a willingness by the individual to serve in the vacancy, or both. Of course, whomever serves in Riecke’s position (be it him or otherwise) must be a resident of the First Congressional District in order to be qualified to fill the vacancy.
We do not know how many other individuals may have done so, but we are aware of two people who decided to contact Guillory, and they have made their sentiments known publicly. We are also aware of one prominent individual who has expressed a desire to serve in that vacancy. While we’ll refrain from divulging the identity of the individual who has expressed a desire to serve, we will direct focus to the two individuals who have made their sentiments about Riecke known in no uncertain terms.
Let’s begin with Lloyd Grafton, who formerly served as a colleague of Riecke’s on the LSPC, but who resigned, citing his contention that there existed, “no integrity whatsoever on the Louisiana State Police Commission,” and portrayed the Commission as little more than puppets whose only desires were to be, “invited to the Christmas Party and to serve at the feet of the master (then-LSP Col. Mike Edmonson).”
Grafton actually expressed his sentiments as a comment on our prior post, but let’s give them a bit more prominent display, shall we?:
From: W. Lloyd Grafton
Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Subject: Request regarding coming appointments to the La. State Police Commission
To: [email protected]Dear Interim President Guillory,
I am emailing you to ask your sincere and careful consideration to making appointment suggestions to the Louisiana State Police Commission. It is a very important responsibility, given the recent years of unfortunate and unethical behavior displayed by various previous board members and staff. It is certainly time for honest and wise leadership to usher in a clean slate for our state and for those cadets now entering the training academy.
I served as a member of this commission for 3 years and resigned due to the unbridled dishonesty and actions of the upper management of the Louisiana State Police. The board was often in turmoil because of the constant refusal of the whole board to force a cleaning up.
It is my sincerest hope that you, in your important position, will take the time to nominate men or women of character and wisdom for foresight into the needed good governance in our state. Our young cadets need to know we have intelligent and honest standards.
I especially ask that you not return Jared Riecke to another term. His much publicized background has been a disgrace to our state. I wish no harm, but do earnestly support a turn to quality leadership.
Thank you for allowing me to bring this to your attention.
Sincerely,
Wiley Lloyd Grafton
U. S. Special Agent Retired
ULM Retired Criminal Justice Associate Professor
On February 9, 2017 (the day Grafton resigned in frustration from the LSPC), he and Riecke engaged in the most heated exchange we’ve ever videotaped in the nine-year history of this blog. Grafton, already angered by his contention that Riecke came on the LSPC with an “agenda” to, “get rid of Cathy Derbonne (then LSPC Executive Director),” which, for the record, ended up costing taxpayers approximately $273,000 in the form of a payout to Derbonne, her legal fees, and the legal fees to defend her litigation against the LSPC, didn’t mince his words one iota in making his sentiments known about Riecke.
One of the beauties of a video blog, and videos in particular, is that the videos are forever, so let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit Grafton’s very heated exchange with Riecke on February 9, 2017:
2/9/17: Grafton & Riecke engage in heated exchange entailing the “resignation” of then-LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne (which Derbonne would assert in a subsequent lawsuit was a “constructive discharge”).
Now on to the second individual who was willing to express her sentiments on Riecke, and that would be Belinda Parker-Brown, who is one of seven (7) Plaintiffs suing the LSPC Members individually, including Riecke, for an alleged Open Meetings Violation. That alleged violation entails each of the then-Commissioners’ involvement in the St. Tammany Parish DA special election of March 23, 2024 wherein they mailed this letter dated January 20, 2024 to the Collin Sims campaign accusing Sims of presenting LSP Troopers on a billboard in a, “false light to depict those troopers as standing in support of your campaign.” Let’s see just what all Parker-Brown conveyed to President Guillory, shall we?”
From: Louisiana United International <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2024 10:02 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Attention: Dillard CommunicationDear President Guillory:
I am Belinda Parker-Brown, president of Louisiana United International (LUI) and I have been involved in activism and the investigation of corruption for many years in this area of the state. I’m contacting you today to ensure that you’re aware of some very disturbing information concerning an individual who received an appointment to the Louisiana State Police Commission on behalf of Dillard University, Mr. Jared Caruso Reicke. Mr. Reicke’s first term ended this month and there has been no reported action on his reappointment, but he will remain until removed or until another person has been appointed. We are requesting that Dillard University appoint someone else that would share the same values as your esteemed university.
Recently, I had a conversation with Dr. Aesmail and he suggested that we reach out to you with the information that we discussed concerning the appointment. My Criminal Justice Task Force Committee provided me with some of this information that you may find relevant in making your decision. It includes:
- Robert Burns of Soundoff Louisiana wrote an article about the end of his term that may provide some additional insight:
- Tom Aswell, publisher of Louisiana Voice wrote an article about some of the more nefarious ties of the Reicke family in this article:
- Mr. Reicke has been involved in numerous lawsuits and may have been involved in the murder of one of his business associates, Mr Bruce Cucciara. It is well documented that Mr Reicke was the beneficiary of the $5 million of life insurance at the exclusion of the family of the deceased. Some of that information is detailed in this article:
- Further details of the alleged homicide are discussed in the podcast Counterclock:
CounterClock | Season Five – Counterclock Podcast
- Mr. Reicke was recorded in a video attacking an individual in his Mardi Gras krewe because of a misunderstanding. Even though law enforcement was present, no charges were filed. This event, which is in the attached video, was during his tenure on the LSP Commission.
- We even have a photograph of Mr. Reicke and his wife that they posted on Facebook as a message to the family of Mr. Cucciara. It is attached. Certainly, this type of behavior doesn’t align with the values of Dillard University.
We could provide many more examples, but this sampling shows that Mr Reicke’s conduct is beneath the level of expectation of your institution. I thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.
Respectfully Submitted,
Belinda Parker Brown
Louisiana United International, Inc.
Office: (985)-503-0626
Email: [email protected]
Here is the video Parker-Brown references entailing the “attack” by Riecke, which she provided to us for this feature:
Undated video asserting Riecke tackling a speaker during that speaker’s presentation.
Regarding the photograph referenced in Parker-Brown’s last bullet point, which was purportedly taken at the Mystic Krewe of Olympia’s 2024 Mardi Gras Parade in Covington, that is the photo which serves as the lead image of this feature, but we’ll present it again at this time:
As we wrap up this feature, we would be remiss if we did not express the sentiments of one retired LSP Lieutenant. He had some strong sentiments about LSPC’s Executive Director, Jason Hannaman, regarding the section of Hannaman’s December 5, 2024 letter to Guillory which he characterized as, “nothing short of direct lobbying for Guillory to place Riecke’s name on the list and for Riecke to be reappointed.”
From the wording of Hannaman’s letter, which was placed on prominent display in our last feature, with the following segment deemed particularly objectionable by the retired Lieutenant:
he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.
Other individuals whom we contacted about the retired Lieutenant’s concerns expressed similar sentiments. From our own vantage point, the following wording would seem more appropriate: “he has indicated a desire to continue serving on the Commission,” and left it at that!
The retired Lieutenant took it a step further by indicating that Riecke’s name should not have been even mentioned in the letter but, instead, the responsibility should be upon Riecke to reach out to Guillory and make any desire he may have to be reappointed made known to her. His logic is that, by having such wording on the letter to Guillory, it defeats the whole purpose of having the independence of the university Presidents make the selections, and we do find it hard to argue against the point he makes.
So, the deadline for Guillory to submit names (for which she may submit up to three) is Saturday, January 4, 2025, and we have made a standing public records request to receive any correspondence sent from President Guillory to the LSPC.
Should any such correspondence be forthcoming, we intend to publish that communication and its contents in a follow up feature to this one.
If no correspondence whatsoever is received from Guillory, then the sole authority to appoint the next Commissioner rests with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. We intend to publish a follow up feature as soon as possible after obtaining word that Guillory passed on making recommendations should she opt to go that route.
We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and it looks like 2025 will get off to an interesting start, especially on the LSPC!
That video of the arguing is something else. Ricke says how she was told she was to be fired then Grafton says by people opening their mouths and telling her she was gonna be fired. Can’t get much more direct than that for sure. Whole place seems a hot mess.