The Advocate is reporting that screenshots of 2019 and 2020 Facebook posts suggest Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet was trying to capture a person suspected of burglaries in her neighborhood.
Odinet shared a video of an attempted car burglary at her home on November 22, 2019, in a Bendel Gardens neighborhood Facebook group.
“Our resident car burglar was back last night around 3:10 a.m. Remember to lock your doors,” Odinet wrote. She added in the comment section that she had “another video of him entering the truck. He comes every other Thursday. Since the truck was unlocked, I know he will be back.”
Odinet's attorney, Dane Ciolino, confirmed the screenshots were from her Facebook account, according to The Advocate.
On Monday, video footage taken at Judge Odinet's home circulated online following an attempted burglary there over the weekend. The video appears to show a group of people watching home surveillance. A woman's voice can be heard saying the n-word and comparing the suspect to a roach. Odinet said in a statement that she was given a sedative at the time of the video and has "zero recollection of the video and the disturbing language used during it."
Ciolino confirmed Wednesday that the judge said the slurs and she will take an unpaid leave of absence.
In another Facebook post on January 16, 2020, in the same neighborhood group, Odinet says an attempted burglary in her driveway led police to open an investigation. “LPD has assigned a detective to my case. They may set up a sting if I can provide them with other cases from our neighborhood,” she wrote, adding that “the detective searched Beverly and didn’t find any other reports.”
The Advocate reports that an anonymous source said Odinet told attorneys about leaving $20 visible in her car as a trap.
Odinet posted in 2020 that “the more reports, the better the chances of them setting up a sting operation.” In the comment section, a user posted, “Michelle set up a trap last weekend with cash exposed in the car and a dashcam and caught great footage of the guys!”
To read the whole story by The Advocate click here.
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