Attorney General’s Office launches corruption probe in Lafayette school system under leadership of Francis Touchet

This story was first reported by The Current and republished with permission.

Written By Leslie Turk
The Current

The Louisiana Office of the Attorney General is investigating the Lafayette Parish School System, according to sources with knowledge of the inquiry.
Word of the new investigation, described as a public corruption probe, comes after the Lafayette Police Department confirmed to The Current that it has closed its investigation into forged quotes for Lafayette schools’ construction projects. The Current’s reporting has uncovered more than two dozen quotes from contractors who said they did not vie for the projects noted on school district documents bearing their letterhead.
That forgery investigation, launched by LPD on June 18, led to the August arrest of Robert Gautreaux, LPSS’s former director of construction, facilities and maintenance, on state felony charges of filing false public records and injuring public records. Gautreaux has not yet been charged and continues to work for the school district under a non-disclosure agreement.
On Dec. 3, LPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Robin Green told The Current that the department had forwarded the Gautreaux case to the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office that same day — even though District Attorney Don Landry’s office had not yet requested the investigative file, months after the arrest.
Sources say the AG’s office is investigating whether anyone higher up than Gautreaux was involved in the alleged forgeries or had knowledge that quotes were being manipulated in order to direct school work to favored contractors. Investigators are also looking into whether any school officials benefited financially from relationships with vendors, according to those sources.
Consistent with standard practice, the AG’s office would neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into the local school system.
LPSS Superintendent Francis Touchet, then-Construction Director Robert Gautreaux and the wife of a metal building contractor doing business with the school system signed up for a cruise that set sail in late March of this year.
The Current reported in July that Superintendent Francis Touchet, Gautreaux and their wives, along with the wife of LPSS contractor Butch Bergeron, joined a Facebook group for passengers of a five-day, four-night Carnival Lines cruise that set sail in March from Galveston to Cozumel, Mexico. Both Touchet and Gautreaux declined to confirm whether they went on the cruise or who paid for it.
Bergeron, a metal building contractor who has been awarded no-bid construction work worth approximately $3 million at Lafayette schools for at least 55 projects since Touchet was named permanent school superintendent in late 2023, has acknowledged social relationships with school officials. He also sponsored a customer appreciation event at Lafayette Parish School Board member Jeremy Hidalgo’s Broussard bar last year. The Louisiana Board of Ethics says such sponsorships violate the state’s ethics code.
The Current’s inquiry into school construction conflicts was prompted by findings in LPSS’s annual audit. The school district is now in the process of replacing its longtime independent auditors, having recently issued a request for proposals from interested firms.
Auditors at Kolder, Slaven & Co. flagged multiple construction projects that should have been combined and put out for bid, including several awarded to Bergeron. Follow-up reporting on construction projects by The Current revealed the use of an unlicensed contractor for a drainage repair project at an elementary school in 2024, prompting an investigation by the state’s licensing board for contractors.
The licensing board was first to identify that competing quotes for that project had not actually been submitted by the two local companies whose letterhead they were on.
Don Landry said Monday that the Gautreaux case had not been assigned to an assistant district attorney for prosecution. It’s unclear whether the AG will take over that case.
In early October, Landry confirmed to The Current that he met with Superintendent Touchet on June 25, while the LPD criminal probe was underway. “I believe we discussed truancy and we discussed the bids issue,” the district attorney said in an email.
“Because there is a pending investigation on the issue of the bids, I cannot comment on that issue,” he said at the time. He did not respond to followup questions about the appropriateness of discussing an active investigation with the superintendent.
“As required by the Legislative Auditor, the matter was referred to the District Attorney,” Touchet told The Current in a text message Friday morning. “There was a brief conversation that included this issue and a discussion of truancy. The matter is now solely in the hands of the legal system.”
Last week, the Lafayette Parish School Board gave Touchet a glowing evaluation, awarding him a score of 3.8 out of 4, and will soon meet with him to discuss possible contract amendments. His current contract — carrying a salary of $235,000 plus an annual stipend of $20,000 — runs through May of 2028.
The board had similarly praised Gautreaux’s work after The Current reported on the hiring of the unlicensed contractor, Bosco Oilfield Services. At that time, School Board President Britt Latiolais encouraged Gautreaux to continue hiring Bosco, even as the licensing board investigation was underway.
As a condition of his continued employment, Robert Gautreaux signed what sources have described as a confidentiality agreement. The school district denied The Current’s request for a copy of the agreement. Photo by Robin May
Gautreaux, who was placed on administrative leave the day Lafayette police took over the forgery investigation, was allowed to return to the system July 1, albeit transferred with a pay cut to his old job teaching agricultural science. As a condition of his return and continued employment, Gautreaux was required by Touchet to sign an agreement that sources described as a form of confidentiality or non-disclosure.
Multiple sources told The Current the superintendent was aware by July 1 that Gautreaux may be charged, and knew the construction director was a target when he put him on leave and handed the probe over to LPD.
In fact, records obtained by The Current show that just days after LPD took over the case in mid-June, school officials asked their attorneys to research whether it was mandatory to fire an employee convicted of a felony.
The school system declined The Current’s request for a copy of Gautreaux’s transfer agreement, saying if such a record exists, it would be in his personnel file and exempt from production.
“Any next steps will be determined by the District Attorney, the Attorney General, and the Legislative Auditor,” Touchet wrote in his text response. “The school system is not involved in the legal process and will not be commenting further.”