Former Assumption deputy indicted on hundreds of charges

HoumaToday.com
BYLINE: Raymond Legendre, Staff Writer
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Assumption, LA

THIBODAUX -- A former Assumption deputy was indicted by a grand jury today on hundreds of charges stemming from allegations he used drugs collected as evidence for criminal prosecutions.

Louis Lambert, 48, 129 Sycamore St., Labadieville, served as the Assumption Sheriff's Office's evidence custodian for seven years. In April, suspicions arose about him after deputies learned evidence in a drug case set for trial had been mishandled.

State Police arrested Lambert on hundreds of charges in June following a three-month probe into his alleged altering, replacing and removing of drugs from closed and current cases.

The charges the Assumption grand jury indicted Lambert on Wednesday are as follows:

-- 337 counts of malfeasance in office

-- 35 counts of possession of marijuana

-- 24 counts of possession of cocaine

-- 13 counts of possession of a legend drug

-- 13 counts of illegal carrying of weapons

-- 10 counts of drug paraphernalia

-- four counts of theft of a firearm

-- one count of misdemeanor theft

-- one count of carrying of weapons

-- one count of possession of hydrocodone

-- one count of possession of amphetamine

-- one count of illegal possession of a firearm

Lambert is free on his previously set bond amount of $70,500. He has 24 hours to post his new bond, which District Judge Ralph Tureau set at more than $5 million Wednesday, before he must report to the Assumption Parish jail.

Lambert is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges next Wednesday in District Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo's court.

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International Association for Property and Evidence
"Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement"
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