By Bob Warren
The New Orleans Times-Picayune
ST. BERNARD, La. — A dispatcher for the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office allegedly sent a text message to a suspect under police surveillance warning him that he was possibly a target of an investigation, authorities said Monday.
The dispatcher, Wendy Reames, 24, of Lutcher, was booked with malfeasance in office. She was arrested Friday, the Sheriff’s Office said. Reames, who had worked for the sheriff’s communications division for 13 months, has also been fired, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
She was released from jail on a $35,000 property bond, said Chief Deputy Richard Baumy.
The Sheriff’s Office would not identify the suspect, citing the ongoing investigation. However, authorities said more arrests are expected.
According to the news release, narcotics agents had the suspect under surveillance around 6 p.m. Thursday. Other agents were in the communications office to run a background check on the suspect when Reames allegedly sent the suspect a text message warning that agents were investigating.
The Sheriff’s Office did not say specifically how agents determined the text message had come from Reames.
“This type of activity on the part of an employee of this Sheriff’s Office will not be tolerated,” St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens said in a prepared statement. “The action of this former employee not only endangered the success of this narcotics investigation and the safety of the dedicated agents working the case, but it also violated the trust bestowed upon us by the community to enforce the law impartially and keep St. Bernard Parish safe.”
Baumy said dispatchers handle 911 calls, deal with the public and also sometimes run computer background checks on suspects. Baumy said investigators don’t have any evidence that Reames might have alerted other suspects of investigations.
Although the Sheriff’s Office listed a Lutcher address for Reames, the news release said she was staying at a trailer in Chalmette at the time of her arrest.
Copyright 2008 The New Orleans Times-Picayune