Rep. Clay Higgins, let's review

[tetedur]

So proud of our representation here in Louisiana:

From Nov 2016:

In early October The Independent published a story revealing that congressional candidate Clay Higgins, who rose to prominence after his Crime Stoppers videos went viral, has quite the controversial past. In this piece, “Uniform misconduct: Inside the rise and possible fall of ‘The Cajun John Wayne,’” freelance writer Zack Kopplin reported that Higgins had not paid income taxes for years and was having his wages at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office garnished before he resigned earlier this year.
Kopplin opined that Higgins’ political ambitions might be imperiled by the release of emails and sheriff’s department memos obtained from a public records request:

They reveal a number of curious tidbits — ruminations on how “sex and youth sells” in Hollywood and the fact that Higgins, a former car salesman, believes he’s better looking in person than on TV. More, however, these emails reveal a public servant obsessed with making quick buck after quick buck on the taxpayer’s dime. He repeatedly broke sheriff’s department rules, using his job in law enforcement to launch a series of lucrative schemes, and has done little to show he would not do the same with a seat in Congress.

After he became famous in early 2015, Higgins began exploiting his position in the sheriff’s department to sell T-shirts and mugs, negotiate paid talk show appearances, paid speeches, paid advertisements and even a reality television show, Higgins’ emails reveal. He did all of this on his government email account during work hours without the permission or knowledge of his supervisors. Higgins also appears to have attempted to conceal his earnings from the IRS in order to avoid wage garnishment for unpaid taxes. Whether those actions constitute tax fraud is unclear.

But Higgins added an unusual request. “I prefer to get paid in cash,” he wrote. “I have my reasons for preferring cash, reasons best discussed, if need be, in person.”...

Then, in a Nov. 4 story, The IND reported that records from the Opelousas Police Department’s internal affairs investigations showed that Higgins roughed up a young black and was less than truthful about it when interviewed by The IND.

Now both The Advocate and Daily Advertiser are reporting that Higgins also failed to make child support payments and is being sued by one of his ex-wives for $100,000 after falling in arrears a decade ago. ...

Another ex-wife who is now deceased claims Higgins put a gun to her head during an argument in 1991....

http://theind.com/article-24249-Higgins-skipped-taxes-%E2%80%94-and-child-support.html

More recently:

Feb. 2019

An aide to Rep. Clay Higgins was arrested this weekend in connection to a bust at massage parlors and residences in Louisiana that might have involved human trafficking, according to local media reports.

Police in Lafayette Parish arrested Jerod C. Prunty Saturday and charged him with two counts of pandering, The Advocate reported. His arrest is related to those of eight other people in Lafayette Parish last week, officials said.

Prunty serves as a field representative at Higgins’ district office, according to a directory maintained by the House of Representatives. He earned about $47,000 in that role last year.

Under state law, a pandering charge could describe persuading the entrance of someone into the practice of prostitution either by force and threats, or by promises or any other scheme, according to The Daily Advertiser. A pandering charge could also describe “maintaining a place where prostitution is habitually practiced, detaining a person in a place of prostitution by force, receiving or accepting anything which is known to be from earnings by a person engaged in prostitution or transporting any person from one place to another for the purpose of promoting prostitution,” the paper reported.


Higgins’ office has placed him on administrative leave, pending investigation and adjudication.

https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/aide-to-rep-clay-higgins-arrested-on-pandering-charges