NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former police bodyguard for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he filed fraudulent payroll documents and made false statements about an alleged romantic relationship with Cantrell.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Currault allowed Jeffrey Vappie to remain free without bail. She ordered Vappie not to discuss his case with Cantrell. But she stopped short of granting a request from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsburg that Vappie have no contact with Cantrell while the case is pending.
Defense attorney Shaun Clarke had objected strenuously to the prosecution motion, repeatedly referring to Vappie and Cantrell as friends.
“He's standing here, indicted, because the government has criminalized his friendship with Ms. Cantrell,” Clarke told Currault.
Currault didn't rule out further restrictions on Vappie's contact with the mayor but delayed a final decision pending further court arguments.
Charges against Vappie include seven counts of wire fraud. The July 19 indictment cites a series of payroll deposits into Vappie’s bank account for time he claimed to be working as a member of the police department’s “executive protection unit” when, prosecutors allege, he was off duty.
There is also a single count of making false statements, alleging he lied to the FBI about his “romantic and physical” relationship with Cantrell. Such a relationship would have violated police department policy.
Cantrell, New Orleans' first female mayor, has declined to comment on the case but has in the past denied a romantic relationship with Vappie. The Democratic mayor is identified in the indictment only as Public Official 1 who was elected mayor in November 2017 and again four years later — coinciding with dates Cantrell was elected.
No charges have been filed against Cantrell, but she faces related litigation in an unfolding scandal that has dogged her for much of her second term, which began in January 2022.
A woman who photographed Cantrell and Vappie together at a French Quarter restaurant in April has sued Cantrell for defamation. Cantrell had accused the woman, a Quarter resident who photographed the two from her apartment balcony, of stalking her.
A state judge threw out the stalking lawsuit and the woman filed a lawsuit against Cantrell and several police officers alleging that they improperly accessed state and federal databases seeking information on the woman.
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The date of Vappie's indictment has been corrected to July 19.