NEW ORLEANS — Days after political leaders criticized the juvenile ankle monitoring system, in response to a teen killing a woman in the French quarter – WWL Louisiana obtained information showing more teens were able to commit crimes when they were supposed to be monitored electronically.
It all started earlier this week when it was uncovered that the 15-year-old who killed a tour guide in the French Quarter, had been arrested five times previously and was supposed to be monitored as conditions of his release.
Friday, WWL Louisiana obtained information that at least two other teens – including one now facing second-degree murder – were also supposed to be on electronic monitoring.
According to the DA’s office, 16-year-old Malik Cornelius was on GPS monitoring when he allegedly killed a visitor from Tacoma, in the Marigny back in January. According to the DA’s office, Cornelius was supposed to be supervised through a system by the name of Repath.
It’s a system that connects to an app on the phone. But, WWL Louisiana obtained a letter from Orleans Parish Juvenile Court that shows the contract for the parent company of Repath was canceled at the end of 2023.
The DA’s office says it was never told about the cancellation and says the judge in the case never required the teen to switch to a different system.
We reached out to Judge Darensburg—who signed the letter about the canceled contract and he told us he had no knowledge of ankle monitoring that he could share.
A second teen, according to the DA’s office, engaged in a three-week crime spree Uptown when he was also on electronic monitoring. They say he’s linked to upwards of 150 crimes, all while he was supposed to be supervised.
Over the past few days, we’ve been working to get more information on how the system works and who’s in charge, but everyone has sent us to the Office of Juvenile Justice. We’ve reached out to OJJ several times but have not heard back.
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