Vermilion Parish Sheriff responds to Ethics Board ruling

Long-time Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillon wants the public to understand the key points when it came to him purchasing a home at a Sheriff’s Sale last year.
Last week the Louisiana Board of Ethics ruled that Couvillon violated a state law by purchasing a home at a Vermilion Parish Sheriff Sale. Couvillon made the only bid for the house located on La. 335. His winning bid was $58,000.
Couvillon said he did nothing criminally wrong by buying the house.
“It’s pre-election time and this complaint to the state Ethics Board over a home I purchased over 17 months ago which was foreclosed on by a bank is obviously being driven by politics for this fall’s election, an attempt to discredit me,” said the Sheriff.
“It is very important that the public understand that this ethics issue is not and never was a criminal investigation. It is the
beginning of an ethics process and we look forward to a full hearing on all of the issues.”
Couvillon said it is important that the public understand these key points:
• “ As I stated before, I take the responsibility the voters entrusted me with as Sheriff, very serious. With that regard, I completed my due diligence on the purchase of this home by getting a legal opinion from two attorneys before I made any decision to purchase the home, legal opinions that said that I could buy the home because it was a bank foreclosure and not surplus property of the Sheriff’s Office.”
• “All applicable laws were followed in the sale of the foreclosed home to include pre advertisement of the sale, giving anyone ample and equal opportunity to be present to bid on the home, on the day of the sale.”
• “There was no other person(s) present to bid on the home besides the bank representative and my personal attorney.”
• “I was not present at the sale and/or for the bidding process. My personal attorney was present and placed a bid on the home for me, therefore I had no direct involvement in the sale/auction process, and therefore I had no ability to circumvent the sale/auction process or the outcome of it.”
• “The ethics law(s) that govern this type of purchase include exception(s) and that is what my attorney believes should clear me on this ethics issue.”
• “The price paid for the home was fair due to the home’s deplorable condition to include a leaking roof throughout the home for years that rotted the entire home or the fact that I spent over $150,000 (have receipts) renovating this home to make it inhabitable.”