Sensitive Court Documents Accidentally Dumped in New Orleans Landfill

NEW ORLEANS, LA (KPEL)—Shocking videos of the Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal Court digging through a landfill have triggered a response from the community and Attorney General Liz Murrill; however, Mayor LaToya Cantrell's team has not commented on the situation.

Get our free mobile app

Sensitive Court Documents Accidentally Dumped in New Orleans

According to FOX 8, staff members from the Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court were searching for an unknown number of paper court records that were dumped by city employees incorrectly last week.

On Monday and Tuesday, Clerk Darren Lombard, along with his staff and landfill workers, sifted through trash in the Gentilly Landfill on Almonaster Avenue in search of serious case documents that were supposed to be preserved.

It was quite an extensive effort and quite messy

Before city employees improperly disposed of the paper court records, they were stored in a City of New Orleans Department of Public Works maintenance yard on Clark Street.

So far, about 60 cases of court files have been recovered from the landfill and are being returned to the Public Works site; however, the total amount dumped is unknown. Lombard believes there are still sensitive court documents lost in the landfill despite their search.

According to Lombard, they were anticipating something like this happening due to the lack of space.

It’s not just the clerk’s office, but other agencies as well are running out of space to put things

Chief Administrative Officer Joe Threat, who Lombard says was "just as perplexed," is currently investigating the situation.

This is a developing story, and the KPEL News Team is working to provide additional coverage for Acadiana. Updates will be shared as they become available, so download the KPEL News app via Google Play or in the App Store and subscribe to breaking news alerts to get the latest information sent directly to your mobile device.

You can also use the KPEL app to submit a news tip, share a traffic update, or chat directly with our on-air team.

Be sure to bookmark our latest site, wearelafayette.net, where we provide more local news coverage as well as lifestyle and community features.

To report errors, omissions, or other concerns regarding the content above, send emails to news@kpel965.com.