BATON ROUGE — An attorney general's office probe into the East Baton Rouge Parish government has resulted in several people, including multiple elected officials, being charged with various crimes tied to alleged city-parish corruption.

Attorney General Liz Murrill's probe into East Baton Rouge Parish corruption alleges that, between 2021 and 2024, councilmembers, mayoral staff members and contractors participated in multiple kickback schemes, contract fraud and theft of tax dollars.

CATS Connection:
One facet of the investigation involves an alleged bribery and kickback scheme among leadership at the Capital Area Transit System, which the AG's office began investigating in December 2024.

According to arrest records from January, CATS' former CAO Pearlina Thomas approved a $50,000 contract to Jarion Colar's Supreme Solutions Consulting for a contactless payment system for CATS without following the proper approval process. Colar is also accused of not completing work he was contracted for as well as turning in fraudulent reports. 

District 6 Councilman Cleve Dunn Jr. is also tied to the CATS corruption investigation. Documents detail that Dunn allegedly used his elected position of power to secure Colar's $50,000 contract with CATS.   Further, Colar's company allegedly converted at least $33,000 to checks made out to "C.G.", which stands for Core Group LLC, a company registered to Dunn.

Dunn, Thomas and Colar were all indicted on conspiracy and other corruption charges. Dunn and Thomas were also indicted on malfeasance charges.

Two other people—Terral and Erica Jackson—were indicted in January on theft charges connected to the CATS investigation. Their company, Broad Innovation Marketing Firm, worked to address a COVID-19 Mitigation Research Grant - Contactless Payment Project, but statements allegedly made by the Jacksons indicated the money was instead used to "galvanize the public to vote for the upcoming CATS millage."

Court records show funding would not have been awarded to Broad Innovation Marketing Firm "had it not been orchestrated by the Jacksons and the unnamed individual... then Thomas exerted her influence at CATS by circumventing CATS' procurement process and proper vetting of the vendor."

Safe, Hopeful, Healthy BR Program/ EBRCP Blight Program: 
The Jacksons' company also received contracts through Safe, Hopeful, Healthy BR, a program run by then Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broom’s Healthy City initiative, as well as the East Baton Rouge City/Parish Blight Remediation Program.  

The most recent development in the corruption probe was the indictments of East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent LaMont Cole, as well as both Terral and Erica Jackson, earlier this week. 

Cole, who served as the Mayor Pro Tempore and a Metro Councilman before moving to his current role leading the East Baton Rouge Parish School System in August 2024, is accused of accepting more than $40,000 in cash and gifts in the form of bribes from Terral Jackson to give favorable contracts and kickbacks to the Jacksons' Broad Innovation Marketing Firm. 

According to dates provided in the indictment read in court Wednesday, Cole is accused of committing the crimes between Aug. 10, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2024. Cole was charged with two counts each of conspiracy to commit public bribery and money laundering between $20,000 and $100,000, as well as one count of malfeasance in office. 

The Jacksons were also indicted Wednesday. They were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit public bribery and money laundering.

An affidavit details that Cole "abused his elected position of power" and participated in a bribery scheme with the Jacksons where their company "unlawfully received multiple contracts, totaling nearly $600,000."

Roderick Shannon, who was also accused of defrauding Safe, Hopeful, Healthy BR. He was arrested in July. In 2022, Shannon submitted an invoice and program reports purporting that he had sponsored local events involving MADD Marvin. The AG's office added that Shannon paid approximately $3,041.66 for those alleged services.

Housing for Heroes:
Bradley Brown was also arrested in connection with the probe. Brown, a developer who ran an affordable housing project called "Housing for Heroes" near Scotland Avenue, was arrested in December 2025 after he allegedly received more than $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds approved by the Metro Council for building affordable housing for essential workers.

It was set to cost over $11 million to create 36 low-income apartments for health care workers and professionals.

The state alleges that Brown attempted to defraud three separate banks of over $1.2 million between December 2021 and August 2022. Officials also claim Brown stole around $25,000 from the city of Baton Rouge.