Opelousas man accused of damaging Confederate monument may face hate crime charge

Representatives for a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp have indicated that the organization will ask the St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s Office to consider adding a hate crime charge in connection with the damage to a Confederate monument.

Additionally organization members say they plan to request District Attorney Chad Pitre consider filing additional felony charges against the Opelousas man now charged with one count of simple criminal damage to property for allegedly attempting to topple the monument and then later allegedly smearing black paint over the statue that has been located on the Courthouse Square for over 100 years.

David Richard, a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 778, wrote in an e-mail received by the Daily World on Thursday that organization members have agreed to eventually take the monument down from its courthouse location, clean the statue and then relocate it.

Richard also wrote that the organization hopes to meet with Pitre in order to discuss applying the state hate crime statute as well as additional charges against Don Leger, who was arrested by Opelousas police and charged in connection with damaging the monument.

“We are asking that the hate crime law be applied. We are waiting (for Pitre) to call to discuss. We are asking that Leger will be additionally charged with a separate felony charge for (allegedly) attempting to destroy the monument as he did earlier and then returning later (allegedly) to paint it. Those are separate violations in our opinion,” Richard wrote.

Pitre responded in a text message on Thursday afternoon that he could not comment on any aspect for the potential prosecution of Leger, because the District Attorney’s Office has not received all the information contained in the investigative file pertaining to the monument incident.

Leger, 66, a licensed appraiser hired several years ago to manage camps and other properties leased to individuals by the St. Landry Parish School Board, was booked at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff Department Jan. 5 following his arrest for criminal damage to property for an amount that does not exceed $5,000.

The arrest affidavit filed into state district court records in connection with the arrest alleges that an older white male driving a late model dark-colored GMC Sierra pickup truck was spotted on a Courthouse surveillance camera Jan. 2 attempting to pull the monument down with his vehicle.

After failing to pull down the monument with a rope tied behind the back of the pickup truck, the man in the surveillance footage returned hours later and began painting portions of the monument with the black paint, according to the affidavit.

According to the arrest warrant, Parish President Jessie Bellard initially became aware of the monument damage after he was notified by George Gremilion, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The arrest affidavit says Gremilion became aware of the black paint on the monument as he was driving past the courthouse.

The description of the truck seen on the courthouse surveillance footage matched the description of a truck that is registered to Leger. According to police, Leger was seen Jan. 4 as he was arriving at his house in Opelousas in a GMC truck two days after the monument damage was discovered.

Police say Leger said he would not answer any questions without an attorney present. According to the affidavit, Leger was told by police that he had the option of speaking to investigators or face arrest on the information that Opelousas police already had obtained concerning the monument incident.

During a St. Landry Parish Council meeting Dec. 7, Leger asked members of a Public Works Committee to expedite a previous Council resolution which requested the movement of the monument to another location as well as designating the local camp chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans as owners of the monument.

Leger in his address to the Committee asked that the parish consider paying for the removal of the monument.

“You (parish government) have money to do whatever you want to do. There is no reason why (the parish) can’t find the money to remove that statute. Remove that statue off the Courthouse (property). I am just asking (the Parish Council) to do what you were asked to do,” Leger told the Committee.

Bellard said in previous interviews that the Council had also asked that no parish government funding be considered in paying for the monument removal.

Over the past couple of months Bellard has told the Council that he had located a contractor who planned to remove the monument in different sections and with the approval of the Sons of Confederate Veterans transport the statue to Camp Moore in Tangipahoa Parish.

At the time the monument was damaged, the parish had placed scaffolding it in preparation for the removal in sections, Bellard said.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: Man accused of damaging Confederate statue may face Federal charge