One of many US’s youngest municipal mayors was arrested Tuesday morning in reference to a drug trafficking investigation by authorities in his house state of Louisiana.
The costs in opposition to Tyrin Truong, who was 23 when he was elected as mayor of town of Bogalusa in 2022, embody partaking in transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses and the illicit solicitation of intercourse work.
Truong is amongst seven defendants charged within the investigation performed by Louisiana state police and the Bogalusa police division.
In accordance with a press release from the state police, investigators allege that Truong and the others collectively used “social media platforms to distribute [drugs illegally] and handle funds” for them, “additional increasing their attain and legal exercise”.
“The investigation additionally decided that earnings from drug gross sales had been used to buy firearms,” the state police’s assertion continued. A few of these weapons had been then funneled to individuals who couldn’t legally possess these weapons – and others “had been linked to violent crimes within the Bogalusa space”, the assertion added.
Truong, now 25, faces counts of transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses, unauthorized use of moveable property and requesting prostitutes.
Six others from Bogalusa are also charged with transactions involving drug-related proceeds. They’re: MacKenzie Lynn Cefalu, 24; De-Saleem Wali Pittman, 24; Dirul S Pittman, 22; Salehal-Dien Malike Pittman, 26; Tonya Renee Stage, 51; and Devan Michael Williams, 28.
De-Saleem Pittman is accused of distributing unlawful medication and that defendant, Cefalu, Stage and Williams are accused of plotting to take action.
Truong, a Democrat, pulled off what was thought-about an upset victory when he gained the mayor’s seat of Bogalusa by defeating unbiased incumbent Wendy Perette. Having graduated from Washington College in St Louis, Missouri, with a level in African American research, Truong was the youngest mayor within the historical past of the 111-year-old metropolis, which has a inhabitants of about 10,000.
The Black grandson of a Vietnamese immigrant who fought within the Vietnam warfare, Truong later informed the Louisiana Illuminator that his priorities had been to lower crime and corruption in Bogalusa, which in 2008 had made unflattering nationwide headlines after a lady who had simply been initiated into an area chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was shot to loss of life.
Truong encountered troubled political waters in April when he acquired a letter from Louisiana’s legislative auditor informing him that town’s authorities had fallen out of compliance with state audit legal guidelines. The municipal authorities had not turned in its 2022 audited monetary assertion, which was due about six months after Truong took workplace in January 2023.
That left Bogalusa – which is about 73 miles north of New Orleans – unable to legally obtain state cash, grants, or federal {dollars} that may assist infrastructure, recreation and legislation enforcement companies.
In a written response, Truong argued that his predecessor didn’t facilitate a correct transition.
Truong didn’t instantly touch upon authorities’ allegations in opposition to him. He had delivered Bogalusa’s state of town tackle simply 4 days earlier than his arrest – and stated he was elected at an age when many individuals are nonetheless studying “invaluable life classes”.
“I’m not totally different,” Truong stated. “I admire the belief in confidence you may have positioned in me, and I don’t take it calmly. Day-after-day, we purpose to get higher.
“And I ask that all of us lengthen extra grace to 1 one other. Errors might be made – as they’ve been. However I used to be all the time taught that you just get again up, brush it off and apply the lesson for [the] future.”
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