New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted on Aug. 15 in what prosecutors have alleged to be a years-long scheme to hide a romantic relationship with her bodyguard.
Cantrell allegedly allowed Jeffrey Vappie, a New Orleans Police Department officer and member of her executive protection team, to be paid even when doing activities unrelated to his official duties, such as meeting Cantrell alone in apartments and traveling to vineyards for wine tasting events.
Cantrell has been charged with conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction after a grand jury approved an 18-count indictment that added Cantrell to an ongoing case against Vappie.
“Public corruption has crippled us for years and years,” Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson said, referring to Louisiana’s long history of corruption cases. Simpson called the indictment “extremely significant.”
Vappie faces charges of wire fraud and providing false statements. He has pleaded not guilty.
“This is a sad day for the people of New Orleans,” a spokesperson for City Council President Jean-Paul Morrell said of the indictment.
Cantrell’s charges come just five months before she is due to leave office under the city’s term limits. She was the first woman to be elected mayor of New Orleans, and is now the first mayor in the city’s 300-year history to be charged while still in office.
Cantrell’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Cantrell and Vappie allegedly used WhatsApp, a popular third-party texting service with message encryption, to avoid detection.
Both said their relationship was strictly professional. Prosecutors, meanwhile, alleged that it was “personal and intimate.”
According to Simpson, the pair sent more than 15,000 messages on WhatsApp. On the platform, they allegedly discussed efforts to harass a citizen, delete evidence, make false statements, “and ultimately to commit perjury before a federal grand jury,” Simpson said.
The two allegedly met in an apartment while Vappie claimed to be on duty and was receiving pay, Simpson said.
Cantrell allegedly arranged for him to attend 14 trips with her. The cost to taxpayers for Vappie’s travel was about $70,000, according to Simpson.
Cantrell also allegedly took steps to avoid disclosure of the relationship.
Simpson said Cantrell was untruthful in an affidavit in which she said she had activated a feature to automatically delete the messages in 2021. Rather, Simpson said, Cantrell did not activate the feature until late 2022, following early media speculation about a potential relationship between Vappie and Cantrell.
Simpson also said that after a private citizen photographed the two dining and drinking wine together, Cantrell filed a police report against the individual and sought a restraining order.
Vappie retired from law enforcement in 2024.
Cantrell, meanwhile, alleged that she is being targeted as a black woman and that she is being held to different standards than male officials.
Simpson rebutted the mayor’s claims, saying the allegations were “an incredible betrayal of people’s confidence in their own government.”
“It’s irrelevant that it’s romance or that it’s female,” Simpson told reporters.
Cantrell survived a recall attempt in 2022.
