A St. Landry Parish Sheriff's deputy who was arrested and fired earlier this month has been arrested again.
Eliot Patrick Bertrand, 37, was booked again, with theft, access device fraud, injuring public records, malfeasance in office.
Earlier this month, Bertrand was booked with felony theft, felony injuring public records and felony malfeasance. To read that story, click here.
For the most recent charges, the investigation began in September. According to Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz, “On September 21, 2022, deputies with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint of misappropriation of funds at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office. Eliot Patrick Bertrand purchased a twenty-foot used horse trailer for his personal use, and fully remodeled the trailer using St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office purchase orders for funding.”
A witness stated that on April 20, 2022, Eliot Bertrand went to a Lafayette business in a departmental vehicle and two transactions were conducted. The first trip containing scrap metal was taken from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office and he received $1,048.57. According to the Scrap Metal business, the name on the delivery and payable transactions was, Eliot Bertrand and the address used was his personal address.
On June 24, 2022, the second trip to the Lafayette Scrap business containing scrap metal taken from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office totaled $422.95. Again, the name on the delivery and payable transactions was Eliot Bertrand, and the address he used was his personal address. Four (4) checks were issued to Eliot Bertrand totaling $1,471.52. Eliot Bertrand then cashed the checks. The proceeds from the transactions were used to purchase a 2014 Big Valley horse trailer from Facebook Marketplace for $2,000.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed that Eliot Bertrand used St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office purchase orders for parts to repair a vehicle for a family member on two separate occasions totaling $737.39. The purchase orders were falsified by assigning the parts to repair a St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office vehicle, which had compatible interchangeable parts as the family member’s personal vehicle. Trusty workers at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Fleet Maintenance Office were used to repair the personal vehicle. Eliot Bertrand then failed to obtain the proper approval for the purchases as per St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office policy, and forwarded the items to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office financial department for payment. The owner of the vehicle paid Eliot Bertrand between $600 - $1,000 for the repairs on the vehicle which were not submitted to department accounts receivable.
Additionally, Eliot Bertrand used numerous St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office purchase orders, as well as trusty labor, to refurbish and remodel the 2014 Big Valley trailer. The value of the trailer, including labor and accessories, is estimated at $25,000. It was also discovered that Eliot Bertrand falsified purchase orders to upgrade his personal Polaris Sport 100 ATV, and used numerous St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office business accounts to purchase the parts, totaling $1,905.57. Receipts of purchase orders from both local and online Sheriff Department business accounts were obtained and matching items located on the trailer and the personal ATV, totaling $15,000.
On October 28, 2022, Eliot Patrick Bertrand was booked at the St. Landry Parish Jail and charged with theft greater than $25,000, Access Device Fraud $15,600, injuring public records and malfeasance in office.
Eliot Patrick Bertrand was previously booked at the St. Landry Parish Jail on October 5, 2022 and charged with theft, injuring public records and malfeasance in office. He was given a bond of $8,000 for those charges and was out of jail on bond at the time of the current arrest.
Sheriff Guidroz stated, “One of the most disturbing aspects of a police administrator’s job is discovering personnel within your command violating the law and your trust. Our position is a position of public trust, and when we find that public trust is violated, we must be transparent and take swift action, and in this case as well as other cases, that is precisely what we did.”
