
Louisiana police officials charged with taking bribes in alleged visa fraud plot
Associated Press
created: July 16, 2025, 6:51 p.m. | updated: July 16, 2025, 9:04 p.m.
There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana” when the scheme unraveled, Van Hook said, noting that two other people were also charged in the alleged plot.
Earlier in July, a federal grand jury in Shreveport returned a 62-count indictment charging the five defendants with crimes including conspiracy to commit visa fraud, visa fraud, bribery, mail fraud and money laundering, Van Hook said.
The scheme went on for nearly a decade, Van Hook said.
Van Hook said authorities searched multiple police departments and a Subway sandwich shop that Patel operated.
Van Hook and others said at the news conference that the arrests do not mean the indicted chiefs’ departments are corrupt.
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