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LAFAYETTE — United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Jacob Conrad De La Paz is in federal custody pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by United States Magistrate Judge David J. Ayo on a federal criminal complaint for attempted production of child pornography. An initial appearance will be held in the John M. Shaw United States Courthouse on May 1, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. He has been held without bond.
Following the initial appearance, a detention hearing will be held later in the week and the government will argue that De La Paz be held without bond pending a formal charging decision and possible presentment of the case to a federal grand jury. Pursuant to federal law, this must take place within 30 days of the arrest date and the government will continue its investigation, while evaluating all evidence.
A criminal complaint is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact HSI at 337-262-6619.

Hard work continues to pay off as three more schools in Vermilion Parish have earned the right to call themselves a Comeback Campus.
The Louisiana Department of Education recently recognized Indian Bayou Elementary, Leblanc Elementary and Seventh Ward Elementary.
“Congratulations to Indian Bayou Elementary, Leblanc Elementary and Seventh Ward Elementary who were distinguished for being a Comeback Campus,” Vermilion Parish Superintendent Tommy Byler said.
The three schools are recognized for increasing the number of students who scored Mastery or Advanced in ELA or Math on statewide assessments compared to pre-pandemic 2019 scores. Rene Rost Middle School received the designation last year.
“Such growth requires a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication from all teachers, students, and parents,” Byler said.
Indian Bayou Principal Tara Frick said this means a great deal to the school community.
“I am very proud of IBES for earning this distinction!” Frick exclaimed. “For the school, this recognition means that we are continuing a legacy of excellence here at Indian Bayou Elementary. The hard work and dedication of our teachers, students, staff, and central office personnel contribute daily to our school success. I also know that we could not maintain excellence without the constant parental and community support that we have.
“All of these stakeholders contribute to the continual improvement and growth of our students!”
For Leblanc Elementary Principal Rachelle Brown, this is an honor, and a pleasant surprise.
“We are thrilled about being named a Comeback Campus!” she exclaimed. “The growth that we experienced in mathematics exceeded our expectations, and we are very proud of this accomplishment.”
Brown knows exactly how this was accomplished.
“We received this designation,” Brown said, “because of an incredible commitment from our teachers and staff, hard work from our students, a partnership with our parents and guardians, and support from our central office personnel. It means so much to us to be recognized in this manner. It is quite an achievement!”
Seventh Ward Elementary Principal Marlene K. Primeaux showered similar praise on everyone who makes up her school.
“Seventh Ward Elementary students, teachers, administrators, and parents displayed enthusiastic dedication to student learning and instruction every single day throughout the year,” Primeaux said. “Despite the setback of COVID and weather related closures, there was a consistent joint effort to increase student learning and close the wide academic gaps identified. The success was significant and recognized by the Louisiana Department of Education. As Principal, I was thrilled that Seventh Ward Elementary was being recognized at the state level because of the increase in student achievement over the previous year.
“This award could not be earned without the hard work and dedication of our teachers, students and parents. I am honored to be part of such a wonderful school and community.”

It has been nearly thirteen years since Calvin H. Borel won the spectacular Kentucky Derby finish! He was often called Bo Rail for his tendency to hug the rail, which doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it is the shortest path to the winner’s circle. On May 1, 2010, the Catahoula native won the 136th Kentucky Derby while riding 8-1 Super Saver, making this Calvin’s third win in the last four Kentucky Derbies. It was a tremendous achievement that has never been accomplished before! At the time, he was 43 years of age, and his dream has always been winning the elusive Triple Crown.
Louisiana has a long history of producing excellent racehorses and jockeys. In 1927, one of those jockeys was Dunice “Pechon” Dubois of Vermilion Parish, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Humbert Dubois of Kaplan. Pechon rode horses owned and trained by Zan Rasberry and Alcide “Boy” Simar both of Iota, LA. According to published reports of 1927, Pechon got his start in Vermilion Parish, “where he quickly gained fame for his cool-headedness and ability to get the most out of a mount.” Zan Rasberry owned several great racehorses. One horse in particular was Della Moore, named after a West Texas prostitute of the 1890s. Della Moore, the prostitute, was best known as being the girlfriend of outlaw Kid Curry, who rode with the Wild Bunch gang. Zan purchased the horse after she defeated another great Louisiana horse named Bal de Eunice. Some say Bal de Eunice “was the greatest horse here at the time.”
According to an excellent book titled “Cajun-Bred Running Horses” written by Francis S. LeBlanc, published in 1978 reported that in the early 1800s, races were held on a one-mile circular track. These races were a grueling four miles. That is not all, the winner was the best two out of three races. Sacré tonnerre! Before the spring action gates, in the many bush tracks that followed there was a wooden barrier that separated the riders. Back then it was straight track and one of the riders would shout, “ready!” and the other would reply with, “Go!” Il sont parti!
The author reported that our Cajun Country supplied “both men and horses to the Confederacy. Alcibiades De Blanc of St. Martinville organized Company C of the 8th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. Colonel William Vincent of the 2nd Louisiana Infantry had many of the very best horses, while others were given to the Texas Confederate Rangers who fought in Louisiana. Towards the end of the war, a great many horses were taken by Union forces and the ones they couldn’t take were usually shot. After the not so civil war, in 1869 Numa Bienvenu also of St. Martinville established the first one mile racetrack. It wasn’t very successful mainly due to his two best horses won all the races. A few years later in 1873, the New Orleans Fair Grounds racetrack was opened. It not only created enjoyment for spectators, it was employment for trainers and jockeys. It also added frustration to some and financial ruin for others.
A little closer to home was Ellis Richard’s place known as Tee Maurice. It was a place of entertainment and according to LeBlanc, horse racing there went back to the early 19th century, and it catered to “saddle and harness races.”
There was a one-half-mile racetrack along with a ten-arpent straight-away. There was also a dancehall, bar, and the stomping grounds for anyone aspiring to seek political office. Allons Chez Tee Maurice! The author said some of the largest horseracing crowds could be found at Tee Maurice. Crowds of 5,000 were commonplace. Ellis Richard was from Bosco and nearby was the infamous area of Marais Bouleur known to be clannish and didn’t cater to outsiders very well. Fights were frequent at the dancehall and sometimes it was à bataille au mouchoir where “two knife-carrying men, each gripping opposite ends of a handkerchief by their teeth, would engage in a bloody and frequently deadly contest.” LeBlanc mentioned an altercation that took place on a Sunday afternoon in the early 1900s between the Duplechiens and the Higginbothams. “The result was that five persons were killed tragically by musket fire.”
In the Bosco area of Acadia Parish during Ellis Richard’s era, there was a palomino racehorse named Baille, which means blonde or golden colored. The horse won a great deal of races. For years and even today Cajuns speak of Baille. They would often say Baille à partir à la course, which met Baille has entered the race and will probably win. Ellis Richard was the proud owner of several good racehorses, one favorite was Green Flash, a two year old horse of about 750 pounds. The Cajuns knew the horse as Hitler, which “was bred by John Clay of Sunset and sired by Green Wave, a thoroughbred owned by Brook and Delcambre Farms of New Iberia. The dam was also a thoroughbred named Hot Flash. Ellis Richard convinced Clay to sell him Green Flash. The horse loved racing and was well known at the New Orleans Fair Grounds. Green Flash was apparently known for his ability to overtake his competitors by eight lengths in a six-furlong race. The trait was passed on to his off springs in the horseracing world.
There was also the Chinaball Grove Racetrack in Scott where probably the first girl jockey was from. That girl was Mercedes, the daughter of Gabriel “Gobb” Strauss. She was known as Papillote because of her pig tails. If not the first female jockey, she was surely the youngest since she began riding at the age of five. She cared for Moonlight, which was described as a light sorrel that stood 15.2 hands high. LeBlanc reported that the “22 month old filly weighed 1,000 pounds and had long slender muscles, a very attractive blaze-face and the picture of a fine racehorse.” The horse spent two years at the Chinaball Racetrack in Scott. LeBlanc stated that since the time of her first race, she “was never passed by another horse.” What a legendary reputation!
Although not from Cajun country, I would be negligent if I didn’t mention Lecomte owned by Thomas D. Wells, who owned a plantation south of Alexandria, LA. which many considered the colt to be the fastest in the world. Lecomte was a rich chestnut brown with one white stockinged hind leg. His maiden victory was in 1853 at the most popular racetrack in the South—the Metairie Racecourse. According to the author, Lecomte was named after Ambrose Lecomte of the Magnolia Plantation of Natchitoches, a close friend of the Wells brothers.”
In April 1854, the racetrack was packed to capacity with people from nearly every state in the union. The horses ran a grueling four-mile race. Lecomte, also known as the Red River Colt, ran a record-breaking time of 7.26 (seven minutes and twenty-six seconds), a world record. The colt had just handed the world famous Lexington its first career defeat! Everyone knew that it was a fast heat and could scarcely believe their ears when the time was officially announced. The New Orleans Democrat reported it would be remembered as the greatest four-mile race on record, and certainly the most brilliant event in the sporting annals of the American turf world. The two horses were actually brothers, both sired by the world-renowned white face stallion, Boston. The Louisiana town, south of Alexandria, was named after this horse. Each year at the New Orleans Fair Grounds there is the Lecomte Stakes, a $100,000 one-mile race named in honor of Lecomte. During the days of Lecompte High School, the yearbook was named the Lecomte with a picture of the racehorse on the cover. Sometime later when the railroad painted a sign on the depot a “P” was mistakenly added to the name, and it has been Lecompte ever since.

There were some pretty good thunderstorms across south Louisiana on April 24, 1953 — the kind we see regularly when fronts slide through the area. Nobody suspected they were the beginning of a series of downpours that eventually sent every stream in south Louisiana way out of its banks.
Twelve people died as a direct result of the floods they caused. Damage was estimated at $35 million, second only to the harm brought to Louisiana by the great flood of 1927. The area between the Atchafalaya and Sabine rivers got the worst of it.
Weather records show two spates of especially heavy rainfall, April 17 through May 5, and May 11 through May 19, with downpours ranging from 10 inches to more than 35 inches.
“Lake Charles … suffered the most damaging flood in its history, and 15,000 people were left homeless. Upstream on the Calcasieu River the smaller towns of Oakdale and Kinder were hard hit. … At the crest of the flood, 60 percent of [Lake Charles] was under water … and 2,000 homes were flooded. The barracks area of the Lake Charles Air Force Base had to be evacuated, and water covered many of the operating airstrips,” according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“The most remarkable [flooding] occurred in the Calcasieu River basin, and the Cocodrie-Courtableau Bayou system, and the lower Sabine River,” according to the report. Longtime residents of Oakdale told the local newspaper that the Calcasieu River overflows were “the worst … ever witnessed and that more homes were involved by flood waters and torrential rain waters than ever before,”
Records kept by the National Weather Service in Lake Charles show that the 1953 marks are still the highest ever seen at several places on the Calcasieu River, including Glenmora, Oakdale, Oberlin and Kinder. Water levels reached on Bayou Nezpique at Basile, Bayou des Cannes at Eunice, Bayou Cocodrie at Clearwater, and Bayou Courtableau at Washington are also still records.
There was no gauge on Bayou Courtableau in 1927, but older citizens said the 1953 flood was “nearly as high.” A resident of Beggs, just north of Washington where bayous Boeuf and Cocodrie merge to form the Courtableau, said he had not seen Bayou Boeuf “that high in 50 years.”
More than 500 people were evacuated from Washington, Beggs, Dubuisson and Garland. Port Barre was “hard hit by the overflow … with about 40 families forced out of their homes,” according to another report.
The Southern Pacific line was “put out of commission … when workmen, who had been feverishly sand bagging approaches to a trestle about a mile north of Washington, were forced to give up as the banks collapsed.”
The Eunice News reported May 21 that the town was “the center of a seriously flooded five-parish area. … St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia, Allen, and Jeff Davis have suffered serious crop damage as well as property loss. … Nearly every major stream in the area has broken all records in heights. … Hard hit were travelers who were caught in the area, some of whom are marooned here.
“The Highway Department was routing all west-bound traffic east to Krotz Springs, thence to Alexandria and Leesville, but … had to discontinue this routing because of road blocks east of DeQuincy.”
In Vermilion Parish, Gueydan was hit by “one of the hardest rains since 1940,” the Abbeville Meridional reported. The deluge flooded “all of the lower parts of the town, places that have not been under water since 1940.”
Gueydan was of many towns inundated in 1940 when a stalled hurricane dropped record rainfalls across a wide swath of south Louisiana. As in 1940, heavy rains were also reported in Kaplan, Erath, Delcambre, and Maurice.
The Vermilion River overflowed into Abbeville streets and into the Steen syrup mill and the town’s water and light plant, and the downpours there also brought a new take to the term “raining cats and dogs.”
According to the Meridional, “Ulysse Broussard, a street department employee, discovered a three-foot alligator on Magdelen Square early Monday morning. … It has not even been theorized how the reptile got to the square, but it rained hard enough Sunday night to have ‘rained’ something. It could be alligators.”
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.