Three city inspectors and four independent contractors were arrested today for crimes resulting from their participation in a federally-funded program that provides home repairs for low-income and elderly citizens.

The arrests followed a six-month investigation by the Caddo Sheriff’s Office, Caddo District Attorney’s Office, and Louisiana State Police. The investigation centered around the city’s Office of Community Development and its Neighborhood Revitalization/Limited Repair Program.

Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator, District Attorney Charles Scott, and State Police Troop G Commander Tom Madden announced that 18 arrest warrants were obtained and executed this morning for the following people: 

1.  Alphonso Williams, 36, 2410 Windbrook, contractor and owner of Williams Enterprises;
2.  James Alex III, 43, of 5519 Virginia, contractor and owner of Ninja Remodeling;
3.  Santana Brown, 34, 2430 Amelia, contractor;
4.  James Lester, 53, 219 Fannin, contractor and owner of ReGenesis Construction;
5.  Ray Jones, 54, 2601 Parham, Shreveport city inspector, Office of Community Development;
6.  Jackie Mandigo, 39, 6302 Ernwood Circle, Shreveport city inspector, Office of Community Development; 7.  Daniel LaCour, 53, 4560 Rice, Shreveport city inspector, Office of Community Development.  
All are charged with felony crimes since the victims are over 60 or disabled. (See attachment for complete list of charges.)

The investigation turned up numerous cases of unfinished or substandard repairs in homes of elderly victims – some blind, disabled, or ill. City inspectors signed off on all of the repairs so contractors could be paid by the City. In many cases, the value of services billed by the contractors was over inflated.

Of seven local contractors allowed to do business with the Office of Community Development Limited Repair Program, four were arrested on charges that included lying on their applications for a contractor’s license or not having a license at all. In the past 18 months, these four contractors have received more than $1.5 million from the City of Shreveport.

Prator said the investigation initially focused on Williams and payments he had received from the City for various services. Public records requests by the Sheriff’s Office led to the names of other contractors, who then became part of the investigation.

Sheriff’s and State Police investigators paid personal visits to a number of homes listed in the public records and checked the work in question. Findings included that the City had paid thousands of dollars for home insulation that was never applied, electrical wiring that was not finished or started at all, and air conditioning equipment that was never installed. In one case, tags were torn off an old air conditioning unit and replaced with new tags, but the unit was never replaced.

“We could have found more violations committed by these contractors, but what’s enough?” Prator said. “Our goal is to bring the violations to light and make them stop.”

“We have now included the Office of the Inspector General for HUD in our investigation and representatives are enroute to assist,” the sheriff added.   

List of Suspects and Charges

Contractors
Alphonso Williams – arrested on two counts of filing false public records for lying on local and state contractor applications and one count of contractor fraud for not completing work he was paid to do at a home on West Caperton.

James Alex – arrested on three counts of contracting without a license and one count of contractor fraud for not completing work he was paid to do on a house on Alabama. He left most of his city application for a contractor’s license blank and listed only a compact car a table saw among the specialty tools he possessed to do his job. 

Santana Brown – arrested on three counts of contracting without a license and one count of contractor fraud for not completing work he was paid to do on house on Myrtle.

James Lester – arrested on one count offiling false public records for lying on his state contractor’s application and one count of contractor fraud for not completing work he was paid to do at a home on McAlpine.  

·Supervisors in the Community Development Office allowed Brown and Alex to work in the Limited Repair Program even though his application was never approved or disapproved by the City.

Inspectors
Ray Jones – arrested on two counts of filing false public records. 

Jackie Mandigo – arrested on one count of filing false public records.

Daniel LaCour – arrested on two counts of counts of filing false public records. 

·  All are accused of knowingly signing off on incomplete or inadequate work by the contractors so they could receive payment before the jobs were finished.

You are welcome to visit some of the homes where repair work in question was done. If you plan to stop by, please let the Sheriff’s Office know in advance so we can let the homeowners know they will be receiving a visit:

Helen Davis, 3119 West CapertonBessie Broadway, 5704 McAlpine