NEW ORLEANS — Several new internal violations have been found against former New Orleans Police Officer Jeffrey Vappie, who is already facing federal charges of payroll fraud and lying to the FBI for alleged romantic encounters with Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
The violations, ranging from neglect of duty to use of alcohol on duty, stem from two complaints filed after photographs surfaced of Vappie eating and drinking with the mayor at two French Quarter restaurants.
The photographed encounters took place nearly a year apart, on July 28, 2022, at Doris Metropolitan and on April 7 at Tableau restaurant.
The completed PIB reports state that Vappie, while on duty with his mayoral protection detail, was drinking alcohol and, at the Tableau, wearing a gun, all in violation of police policy.
The complaints were sent to the NOPD by the Metropolitan Crime Commission following a long string of controversies that began with Cantrell and Vappie caught on city security cameras coming and going from the then-city-occupied apartment at the Upper Pontalba apartments in the French Quarter.
The reports were written by an outside law firm after the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau was forced to recuse itself after its own earlier investigation of similar complaints was blasted as insufficient by consent decree monitors and the federal judge overseeing that 12-year-old reform measure.
The Tableau is directly across from the Pontalba and the lunch encounter there that is documented in the report states that the pair ordered food and drink over the course of more than three hours.
The report shows a receipt showing that the two ordered two mimosas, a bottle of Pinot Noir wine to go along with escargot, garlic and shrimp grits, and blue crab crepes.
The report also notes that Vappie failed several basic duties of a protective detail by having his back to the door of the balcony where they were dining and, at one point, leaving the mayor alone at the table.
In the Tableau photos, Vappie is seated at the table across from Cantrell, smiling and looking out over the balcony railing while Cantrell’s eyes are glued on him.
“If he's seated at the table, he doesn't know what's approaching the mayor from behind him,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the MCC, at the time he filed the complaints.
While Vappie’s wife cited his admission of sexual encounters with the mayor as grounds for their divorce, he later denied a romantic relationship with Cantrell. Vappie also made that denial when interrogated by FBI agents, leading to his charge of lying to federal authorities.
Vappie pleaded not guilty to the seven counts of payroll fraud and lying charges and is awaiting trial in 2025.
The violations that were upheld and signed by NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick include professional use of alcohol on duty, neglect of duty due to employment conflicts, neglect of duty due to overtime accounting, and neglect of duty due to improper use of a firearm.
While Vappie resigned from the NOPD after the earlier PIB investigations led to two letters of reprimand, these additional violations will be permanently added to his personnel files and his resignation will listed as RUI, or resigned under investigation.
The RUI designation is almost always an instant disqualifier for returning to any law enforcement job.
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