A former employee of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office (OPSO) has been brought into custody, accused of embezzling over $90,000 from the agency's inmate trust fund, as reported by WGNO. Labrina Carey Lackey, 57, finds herself facing multiple felony charges, including the theft of more than $25,000 and various acts that constitute fraud and official misconduct.
Digging deeper into the case, the OPSO has detected falsified journal entries and unauthorized check disbursements which Lackey allegedly used to cover up cash shortages from deposits made at the bond window. According to information obtained by WDSU, this misappropriation of funds was exposed thanks to the vigilant oversight of OPSO’s new Chief Financial Officer, Bianka Brown. Prior to her appointment in September, these financial misdeeds had gone unnoticed.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson has strongly condemned the actions of Lackey. "These actions are reprehensible and do not reflect the values of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office," Hutson stated in an announcement on WDSU, a sentiment echoed across multiple news outlets. The betrayal of public trust is a grievous offense, and measures are underway to rectify the financial discrepancies and restore integrity to the office’s operations.
To mitigate the fallout and recompense those affected, the parole office has claimed it's leveraging commercial crime insurance. As reported by FOX 8 Live, this move is intended to promptly reimburse any former jail residents whose accounts suffered from these malicious activities. This incident comes on the heels of another recent OPSO scandal involving a separate case of alleged embezzlement by another former employee, Kenneth Aaron Lawson, enhancing OPSO's resolve to tighten financial scrutiny.
