The legal problems of Bogalusa Mayor Tyrin Truong increased dramatically on Thursday (October 30) of last week when a Washington Parish Grand Jury indicted the mayor on multiple corruption charges.
He was arrested this past January by state police during a drug trafficking investigation.
At that time Truong was booked into the Washington Parish Jail, charged with transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses, unauthorized use of a movable, and soliciting for prostitution. He posted bond and was released from the jail.
State Police say Truong “organized entertainment with a prostitute” during a mayors’ conference in Atlanta and paid for an Airbnb where the “entertainment” occurred with public funds.
They also accused him of buying drugs in Louisiana. Investigators allege that a Bogalusa drug ring was using social media to sell opioids, high-grade marijuana, THC products, and MDMA. The profits were allegedly used to buy guns, some of which ended up in the hands of people barred from owning firearms and were later tied to local crimes.
In the indictment handed down on Thursday, the mayor was charged with a list of crimes. The 26-year-old mayor is innocent until proven guilty, but the charges he is facing could result in prison time if he’s tried and found guilty.
When he was elected mayor of Bogalusa at age 23 three years ago, Truong was the youngest mayor in the city’s history and one of the youngest ever in Louisiana.
Some believed the young mayor had a bright political future.
But unless he can manage to beat the multiple serious charges he is now facing, his future in politics and even as mayor is probably finished.
The indictment handed down last week states that Truong misused $4,650 in city money to pay off a personal legal debt from a 2023 lawsuit over violations of Louisiana’s public records laws. A judge had ruled that Truong personally owed attorney fees and penalties for refusing to turn over public documents.
When the city council refused to let him use taxpayer money to cover that debt, prosecutors say Truong threatened to get back at council members by bombarding them with records requests.
Investigators allege that he then pressured a city insurance vendor to send him a check labeled as a “reimbursement.” Truong allegedly had a city employee deposit this money into a city account, then ordered another check for the same amount to be written to himself.
The indictment also includes other corruption charges, to include:
•Accepting unauthorized salary payments.
•Forcing a city contractor to pay another contractor who performed no work.
•Using City of Bogalusa funds to solicit a prostitute at an Airbnb in Atlanta.
•Purchasing illegal narcotics from known drug dealers.
•Demanding that City of Bogalusa workers perform plumbing repairs at his mother’s home using city-owned tools and materials.
•Attempting to solicit a bribe from a Bogalusa business.
Truong will be arraigned on November 10, at which time bond may be set and a trial date will likely be determined.
