Background: The Administration Building and Correctional Center of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Department. Inset: Adrian James St. Romain (Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Department).
A man managed to successfully pose as a judge to reduce an inmate’s bond — facilitating his release from jail — before authorities uncovered the ruse, according to a sheriff’s office in Louisiana.
Adrian James St. Romain, 42, is facing multiple charges, including false impersonation, aiding escape, attempted simple escape, and damaging public records. He was arrested on Tuesday due to an unrelated warrant, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Department said in a news release, and subsequently faced additional charges for “impersonating local judges.”
According to authorities, the incident began in April when someone contacted the Calcasieu Correctional Center claiming to be a local judge. This individual “verbally succeeded in lowering an inmate’s bond” to “Released on Recognizance,” the sheriff’s office reported.
The inmate, 46-year-old Demond Lynn Delahoussaye Sr., according to local NBC affiliate KPLC, “was released on that fraudulent bond” in June.
It wasn’t until Delahoussaye attended a court hearing on July 17 that authorities realized “the release had been authorized under false circumstances.” He was then “promptly arrested and re-incarcerated at the Calcasieu Correctional Center,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Delahoussaye is in jail on an aggravated assault charge, court records show. The relationship between him and St. Romain is unclear.
However, St. Romain allegedly persisted in his purported scheme. He is accused of “making two more calls in July, once again impersonating a judge in an attempt to secure another fraudulent bond for the same inmate.”
However, he was unsuccessful, and detectives identified St. Romain as their suspect. Though he has been arrested – with help from the U.S. Marshals Service – and charged, the investigation is continuing, authorities said.
“We have policies in place and have already made changes to ensure this type of situation does not happen again,” Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Stitch Guillory said. “This was an honest error that occurred due to lack of training, and we have addressed it.”
“We did not release any information in July once it was discovered due to the fact our detectives and corrections personnel were in the middle of an active investigation. Revealing details too soon could have tipped off the suspect,” he added. “I want to commend our detectives, corrections deputies, and the CPSO Real Time Crime Center for the work they did using multiple law enforcement tools and techniques to connect the dots and identify the suspect responsible.”
As of Wednesday, St. Romain’s bond had not yet been set.
