Youngsville city councilman asks police chief to fix ticket, text messages show
YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY) Amid ongoing speculation the Youngsville police chief gave a former council member special treatment, News 10 exclusively obtained text messages from another council member, asking the chief to fix a ticket for a friend.
The discovery of the messages comes one day after Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux filed a lawsuit, asking a judge to weigh in on if the city has the rights to do an investigation into him.
The text messages are both allegedly sent to Chief Boudreaux from Youngsville City Council Member Matt Romero. Both messages ask the chief to fix tickets for a friend.
In the first text message Councilman Romero allegedly sent to Chief Boudreaux in 2020, the sender asks the chief to handle a ticket that was issued for not making a complete stop. The sender says the ticket is for a close friend, and they'd like to see if the ticket can be let go.
News 10 reached out to Councilman Romero about the message. Romero could not confirm he sent the message, as it dated back to 2020. He could confirm, however, he sent the second text to Chief Boudreaux in July of 2022.
In the text, Romero explains the ticket was for a friend's son for disobeying a stop sign.
Councilman Romero says he did send the text to the police chief, per the chief's request. However, he declined to give comment on the situation, due to the recently filed lawsuit by Chief Boudreaux.
As the chief faces scrutiny for allegedly giving former councilwoman Kayla Reaux special treatment, he believes council members asking him to fix a ticket could be seen as them asking for special privileges.
"One thing you the public need to know. I have received text messages from each and every one of them sitting up there asking for special privileges for your family members and special friends. I show you as evidence, the text message I received from Councilman Bolgiano on March 2, 2023: 'I don't ever ask you to fix tickets anymore, but this is a good friend who has been helping his wife with her business and with her medical needs,'" Chief Boudreaux said during a March 2023 city council meeting, holding up printouts of the messages.
News 10 reached out to Councilman Lindy Bolgiano about the texts to the chief. Bolgiano told us he does not believe he asked for special treatment in that situation, as he did not ask the chief to fix a ticket for himself, but instead for a resident in the community.
He says he feels as if asking the police chief to fix a ticket for a resident is not the same as the alleged special treatment Reaux received, as she hit a parked car and did not receive a citation.
News Ten did reach out to Chief Boudreaux about the newly discovered text message from the council member. The chief says he could not comment amid his ongoing lawsuit against the city council.