New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell denies sleeping with a police officer who was assigned to her security detail.
Mayor Cantrell is accused of having an affair with Officer Jeffrey Vappie, according to a divorce filing.
According to an amended divorce petition filed on Jan. 4, Officer Vappie is allegedly having an “ongoing sexual relationship,” with someone referred to as “Mrs. L.C.”
“The petitioner desires a judgment of divorce from the defendant because of the defendant’s continuous acts of adultery,” according to the court documents. “Vappie has been in an ongoing sexual relationship with Mrs. L.C. since approximately May 2021.”
Multiple sources confirmed “Mrs. L.C.” is Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
The divorce petition was originally filed Nov. 2022.
A revised divorce petition raises ethical and legal concerns, alleging an adulterous affair between Mayor LaToya Cantrell and a subordinate, NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie https://t.co/i84iizAr3V pic.twitter.com/z18xI86soX
— FOX 8 New Orleans (@FOX8NOLA) January 17, 2023
News outlets in New Orleans published surveillance images of Cantrell spending hours with Vappie alone in a city-owned apartment in the French Quarter.
None of the other officers assigned to protect the mayor ever went inside the apartment with Cantrell.
During the time Cantrell and Vappie spent alone in the apartment, they were both on the clock. But, according to media outlets, the mayor never made a work-related phone call or sent a work-related email while in the apartment with Vappie.
Vappie was paid overtime for the many hours spent servicing the mayor in the apartment.
Vappie was placed under investigation in November and reassigned from Cantrell’s security detail. He is still employed by the New Orleans Police Department.
He denies having an affair with the mayor, according to his attorney.
However, according to the divorce filing, Vappie admitted the affair to his wife.
NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie didn't admit to affair with Mayor LaToya Cantrell, his lawyers say https://t.co/ZsjRRIybod
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) January 19, 2023
Cantrell, 50, responded angrily in a text message to The Times-Picayune newspaper.
She wrote, “By the time I complete my tenure as mayor, I would have slept with half of the city of New Orleans based on false accusations that come my way sometimes daily. This is only one of them.”
The mayor added, “If I were a MAN, you would NOT be texting me about this bullshit.”
Watch the video below.
