Former Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory Indicted, Booked on 4 Counts of Malfeasance in St. Martin Parish

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Former Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory has been indicted on four counts of malfeasance in office by a St. Martin Parish grand jury.

The charges stem from the covert 2022 removal of spoil banks along the Vermilion River — a project that has generated years of investigations, lawsuits, and political fallout across Acadiana, according to The Current.

The indictment was handed up Thursday after grand jurors heard two days of testimony from multiple witnesses. St. Martin Parish falls under the 16th Judicial District, headed by District Attorney Michael Haik.

Get our free mobile app

What Are the Specific Malfeasance Charges Against Josh Guillory?

The four counts of malfeasance in office break down as follows: one count for removing the spoil banks without a permit from St. Martin Parish, two counts related to removing them without proper permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and one count for placing barges across the Vermilion River and obstructing a highway of commerce.

Lafayette Consolidated Government carried out the project in February 2022 under Guillory’s direction. LCG used barges to block the Vermilion River while crews transferred spoil-bank levees from the St. Martin Parish side to private property on the Lafayette Parish side, KATC reported. The entire operation was executed without the knowledge or consent of St. Martin Parish officials.

Malfeasance in office is a felony under Louisiana law (RS 14:134) and carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison with or without hard labor, along with possible fines.

Who Testified Before the St. Martin Parish Grand Jury?

Grand jurors heard from several key figures connected to the spoil bank project over two days of testimony. Witnesses included former St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars, former LCG Public Works Director Chad Nepveaux, and former City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan. Officials from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office also testified.

Nepveaux, who is no longer employed by LCG, served as Guillory’s public works director at the time of the project. Text messages previously reported by The Current showed Guillory and Nepveaux congratulating each other as the secretive project wrapped up on Feb. 22, 2022.

Cedars, the former St. Martin Parish president who has been in litigation with LCG over the unauthorized spoil bank removal since it happened, released a statement following the indictment.

“This indictment does not replace the spoil bank that was taken, which has always been my desire so that the Cypress Island community will not be subjected to any unnecessary peril,” Cedars told The Current.

Guillory turned himself in to the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office, where he was booked on the four counts. Following his arrest, he was booked into the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center on the above charges, and his bond was set at $30,000.00.

Why the Indictment Came From St. Martin Parish — Not Lafayette

The indictment arrived just one week after 15th Judicial District Attorney Don Landry announced his office would not pursue charges against Guillory. A 12-page memo from Landry’s office declining to prosecute surfaced unexpectedly, just days before the four-year statute of limitations on felony charges was set to expire.

In his memo, First Assistant DA Fritz Welter wrote that while mistakes were made, the office could not prove criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Welter also noted that his office lacked jurisdiction to enforce St. Martin Parish ordinances and punted that potential prosecution to St. Martin Parish authorities.

The $3.7 Million ‘Apollo’ Project: What Happened in 2022

The overnight operation was known to only a handful of LCG officials and internally code-named “Apollo” to keep it secret.

The spoil bank levees were earthen berms along the Vermilion River, created decades ago by the U.S. Corps of Engineers when it dredged the river. Guillory’s administration removed those berms from the St. Martin Parish side and used the dirt to build a new levee on the Lafayette Parish side.

The project generated significant legal and financial consequences for Lafayette taxpayers. St. Martin Parish filed a lawsuit demanding that LCG restore, replace, and reconstruct the spoil banks, alleging the project violated a local ordinance. That lawsuit remains ongoing.

A 133-page investigative audit released by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor in August 2025 found that the Guillory administration likely violated federal, state, and local ordinances in carrying out the project. LCG’s own independent auditors also flagged problems, and an LCG attorney concluded the project violated public bid law.

Guillory Calls Indictment Politically Motivated

In a statement released Thursday, Guillory called the prosecution politically driven and denied instructing anyone to break the law.

“I have been indicted over a four-year-old drainage project from which I made no money and received no personal benefit,” Guillory wrote. He pointed to the Lafayette Parish DA’s decision to decline charges, calling those reasons “objective.”

Guillory pushed back directly on the permit-related charges, saying his administration was told during drainage meetings that the modified project did not require a Corps of Engineers permit. He called that understanding shared by multiple decision-makers.

He also addressed the overnight operation, saying his administration was executing an aggressive drainage plan and that projects ran around the clock because “flooding does not wait for daylight.”

“The project was funded and approved through proper channels,” Guillory wrote. “Engineering and legal input were part of the process.”

Guillory, who now hosts a radio show on KPEL, has consistently denied wrongdoing throughout the years-long investigation. When the LLA released its audit findings last August, he accused Legislative Auditor Michael Waguespack of conducting a politically motivated investigation, calling the LLA’s work “political prostitution.”

Just last week — before the St. Martin Parish indictment — Guillory expressed a sense of vindication over Landry’s decision not to prosecute.

“I’m happy an independent agency reviewed the spoil bank project and found no criminal findings,” Guillory wrote in a social media post last Friday.

This is a developing story.

Disclosure: The Josh Guillory Show airs on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL. The station does not have any comment at this time beyond our reporting on this story.