BATON ROUGE — Metro Councilman Cleve Dunn did not show up Wednesday to the East Baton Rouge Parish courthouse for his scheduled arraignment on corruption charges.
Prosecutor Joseph LeBeau said it was the third time the Clerk of Court’s office had failed to notify Dunn that his arraignment was scheduled.
Commissioner Nicole Robinson told LeBeau that it’s a problem the court has been having in multiple cases recently.
“This is not specific to this case,” she said.
Robinson rescheduled the arraignment for July and sent LeBeau to the clerk’s office to ensure that a fourth error did not happen.
Donny Caldera, the criminal records supervisor for the clerk’s office, blamed clerical errors for the failed notifications.
Dunn was indicted before he was arrested, which is fairly unusual. Generally people accused of crimes get arrested and are indicted days or weeks later. The errors may have been attributable to that to some degree, Caldera said.
READ MORE: Arrest Warrant outlines Dunn’s alleged role in scheme to defraud funds
The case is also convoluted because of a pending recusal of a judge, which the attorney general’s office has sought in dozens of cases in which judges at the 19th Judicial District are also suing the state. The recusals have been granted in many cases. The mechanics of that process have meant that affected cases are temporarily assigned to other judges for the recusal process.
A spokesman for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that the failed notifications were frustrating but said the office will work with the clerk’s office to resolve the problem.
Dunn, who was elected to the Metro Council in 2021, is a central figure in a corruption investigation involving CATS contracts and kickbacks. He was indicted in January and arrested when he returned from Washington Mardi Gras.
MORE: CATS investigation widens with two new arrests on theft charges
The allegations involve contracts CATS officials signed with at least two companies with ties to Dunn that investigators say led to kickbacks and ripped off taxpayers because the bus system did not benefit from the money spent.
Former CATS Chief Administrative Officer Pearlina Thomas and contractor Jay Colar were the first people charged in the probe, which dates back to 2022 and involved both the FBI and the state attorney general’s office. They have pleaded not guilty.
Erica Jackson, another defendant in the case pleaded not guilty Wednesday to theft over $25,000 and conspiracy to commit theft over $25,000. Her husband Terral Jackson pleaded not guilty Monday on the same charges.
Dunn is accused of steering CATS to those contractors, and getting money from the contractors.
He is charged with public bribery, conspiracy to commit public bribery, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, theft over more than $25,000, public contractor fraud, prohibited splitting of profits and malfeasance in office.
UWK did reach out to Dunn. He said “no comment.”
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