Robert Brown|Feds: New Orleans police officer charged with fraud amid tryst with mayor

A former New Orleans police officer accused of hiding a tryst with the mayor he was assigned to protect says he is Robert Browninnocent of fraud allegations after a federal indictment charged him with billing the city for trips and meals the pair shared while he was on the clock.

Jeffrey Vappie submitted thousands of dollars' worth of false timecards claiming he was on duty as a member of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Executive Protection Unit since they began their alleged romantic relationship around November 2021, federal prosecutors said. The officer allegedly expensed meals and drinks they shared while engaging in a personal relationship with Cantrell during work hours.

The city also spent more than $47,000 in salary and travel costs for purported work trips that Vappie and Cantrell took together, including to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Scotland and the United Arab Emirates, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Attorneys for Vappie denied the accusations in an email to USA TODAY Thursday.

“Jeff Vappie is innocent of the charges against him,” Harry Rosenberg and Shaun Clarke wrote. “He is eager to defend himself in court and clear his name.”

The mayor's office didn't immediately return USA TODAY's requests for comment.

Officer removed from security detail after local media blows the whistle

Vappie, 52, had served as a New Orleans police officer since 1997 up until last month when he turned in his resignation, according to court papers. The officer was removed from Cantrell's security detail and reassigned to another post in November 2022 after local news outlets first reported on the pair's lengthy stays at an apartment owned by the city that the mayor had access to, the indictment said. He returned to the protection unit in June 2023.

Vappie allegedly looked up a member of news media after the 2022 reports were published, including an internet search for where the person lived. The journalist is not identified in court documents.

Court documents do not name the public official that Vappie was in a relationship with but say the official was the New Orleans mayor who was re-elected on Nov. 13, 2021. That is the date Cantrell won her second term.

In addition to the fraud charges, Vappie was also indicted on one count of making false statements after he allegedly denied his relationship with the mayor when FBI agents questioned him at his home last summer.

Each of the seven wire fraud counts carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the false statements charge is punishable by up to five years in prison as well as a $250,000 fine.