The Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court is informing the public about a breach and negligence by the city of New Orleans involving public records.
Darren Lombard issued a statement Friday, stating they were notified of multiple containers that housed official court documents, some with lifelong retention requirements, had been moved without notice, and one confirmed instance destroyed without authorization at the Public Works Maintenance Yard.
This comes after a WDSU investigation uncovered documents were being housed by the city of New Orleans. While WDSU Investigates was looking into working conditions for traffic light employees the city said the documents were in the building they were supposed to be moved to instead the worker have been in Katrina FEMA trailers for the past 20 years.
On Friday, according to Lombard, one container, filled with official clerk record had been dumped into a debris field and mixed with general trash.
The clerk’s office was able to recover and safeguard some records, but is continuing to search for additional trailers whose contents and locations remain unaccounted for.
Lombard said the clerk’s office has had numerous formal request since the aftermaths of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita including submissions for documents in budget hearings, capital project proposals and interagency communication.
Lombard called for the immediate escalation of this matter to the chief administrative officer and the mayor’s office and a full, transparent investigation into the destruction of the records.
He said his office remains vigilant, transparent and committed to protecting the public trust.
WDSU has reached out to the city of New Orleans for a response.
READ MORE:Critical public records documents destroyed, according to Orleans Parish clerk
