Wednseday, September 28, 2011
By Heather Miller
Following last week’s cover story, tips continue to pour in on BIA and its immoral mastermind.
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| One of Chris Hebert’s past profile pics on Facebook |
When The Independent exposed Busted in Acadiana mastermind Christopher Hebert and the troubling tactics he used to profit from his wildly popular and now defunct Facebook mug shot page, we inadvertently left out one very humorous detail: Christopher Hebert has a mug shot of his own.
According to court documents filed in the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court’s Office, the 35-year-old unemployed husband of a Lafayette police officer was arrested Dec. 1, 2001, for public intimidation, disturbing the peace by appearing intoxicated and remaining where forbidden. The arrest stems from an incident on Jefferson Street in which Hebert, according to his indictment, used “violence, force and threats” on a police officer.
The public intimidation and disturbing the peace charges were dropped in exchange for Hebert pleading guilty to remaining where forbidden, a misdemeanor that cost him $316.50 in fines and court costs and landed him six months of probation.
A copy of Hebert’s mug shot is unavailable because the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office doesn’t keep booking photos dating that far back. Louisiana State Police, which archives mug shots statewide, can’t release the archived images because they’re stored through IAFIS, an FBI database that’s considered a private investigative tool and not public record.
Hebert, the hypocrite who banned BIA nonbelievers from his page and labeled them as defenders of criminals, denies any involvement with Busted despite the overwhelming evidence that says otherwise. Since the cover story was published Sept. 21, The Ind has received even more proof that Hebert is the man behind the page.
The Ind pointed out last week that bustedinacadiana.com, wantedinacadiana.com, deletemymug.com and gotchamug.com all share identical Web hosting from a California company, TierraNet. The first three, bustedinacadiana.com, wantedinacadiana.com and deletemymug.com, use the same domain protection service to protect the identity of website owners. The fourth site that came from the California company is gotchamug.com. The registrant for the site is Christopher Hebert.
An anonymous email sent to The Ind after the story’s publication shows Christopher Hebert as the registrant of bustedinacadiana.com before he employed the domain protection service. The info was verified using a paid-for search of Domain Tools, which states that Christopher Hebert registered the site on March 18, 2011.
The Independent has since been handed a few additional tips regarding Christopher Hebert. We’re sifting through them and believe there’s more to this story.
Meanwhile, the Lafayette Police Department is continuing its internal investigation into Hebert’s wife, LPD officer Amanda Hebert, and whether her access to law enforcement resources played a role in BIA’s operations.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Craig Stansbury says the agency has looked into complaints over BIA’s mugshot removal system, but the district attorney’s office advised at the time that charging for mug shot removals does not constitute extortion because people requested the service. The charge to remove the photo, Stansbury says, is likened to an administrative fee.
Neither local law enforcement agency is conducting a separate criminal investigation into Christopher Hebert or Busted in Acadiana.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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"oppressive or illegal exaction, as of excessive price or interest" It's illegal because these people on this site were portrayed as guilty when they did not go to court yet...which does invalidate amendments 5-7. He then requested money to have your picture taken off of facebook...If the DA wants to say it's not extortion then they need to make the sheriffs department take down mugshots until those people are proven guilty.