Bogalusa Mayor Indicted For Malfeasance in Office, Public Intimidation and Theft

District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on October 30, 2025, a Washington Parish grand jury indicted 26-year-old Tyrin Z. Truong of Bogalusa on charges of Malfeasance in Office, Public Intimidation and Theft.  The indictment is a result of what remains an ongoing investigation involving federal, state and local agencies.  

Truong, the elected mayor of Bogalusa, is accused of intentionally performing his job-related duties in an unlawful manner and/or knowingly permitting other public employees to intentionally refuse or fail to perform their duties in a lawful manner.  Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese, Chief of the District Attorney’s Criminal Division, and Assistant District Attorney Butch Wilson handled the presentation of the case to the grand jury.  Truong is set for arraignment on November 10, 2025.

Click Read More below to read the Grand Jury Indictment

STATE OF LOUISIANА

Parish of Washington

REC'D FILED WP CLERK

25 OCT 30 PM2:17

Twenty-Second Judicial District Court Term, 2025.

The Grand Jurors of the State of Louisiana, duly impaneled and sworn in and for the body of the Parish of Washington, in the name and by the authority of the said State, upon their oath find and present that:

TYRIN Z. TRUONG

DOB: 06/10/99. Sex: M. Race: B. DL: . SID: . SSN:. FBI: .. Arrest Date: 01/07/25

704 N. COLUMBIA ST. BOGALUSA. LA 70427

On the date below, in the Parish of Washington and within the jurisdiction of the Twenty Second Judicial District Court of Louisiana, for the Parish of Washington did violate:

COUNT I

R.S. 14:134.A(2). (3) and C MALFEASANCE IN OFFICE

TYRIN Z. TRUONG. on or between January 3, 2023 and February 28, 2025. by being the elected mayor of Bogalusa and having by the act of accepting his public office assumed a personal obligation under La.R.S. 42:1461 not to misappropriate, misapply, convert, misuse, or otherwise wrongfully take any funds. property, or other thing of value belonging to or under the custody or control of the City of Bogalusa, and further, having assumed duties pursuant to La.R.S. 33:404 to supervise and direct his administration in conformity with applicable provisions of state law, and then intentionally performing duties lawfully required of him in an unlawful manner and/or knowingly permitting other public employees to intentionally refuse or fail to perform any such duty in a lawful manner, including, but not limited to the following acts of malfeasance in violation of La.R.S. 14:134:

1. Taking and converting for his personal use monies belonging to the City of Bogalusa and/or a

third party legal entity in the amount of $4.650.14 as a "reimbursement" for a personal indebtedness that was incurred by the mayor as a result of a lawsuit in which both he and the City of Bogalusa were cast in judgment for attorney's fees, court costs and penalties due to actions that violated Louisiana's public records laws.

Following a hearing conducted in the 22nd Judicial District on April 20, 2023. during which evidence was presented establishing that Tyrin Truong engaged in conduct rendering him personally liable for the failure to comply with public records requests, the court entered judgment on June 23. 2023. against  both Tyrin Truong and the City of Bogalusa for the mayor's unreasonable actions in failing to follow Louisiana public record statutes in connection with public records requests. Tyrin Truong ultimately paid the judgment against him with his own funds.

On November 21. 2023. Tyrin Truong caused an ordinance to be presented to the Bogalusa City Council seeking to have the City Council authorize payment of the judgment rendered against both the City of Bogalusa and him personally. This ordinance was not passed, and Tyrin Truong then proceeded to  indicate that he would retaliate against the members of the City Council by sending public records requests to them.

Thereafter. Tyrin Truong prevailed upon an insurance company, which is the City of Bogalusa's largest vendor, to make a payment not owed by the company to the City of Bogalusa as a "reimbursement." despite the fact that the insurance company's client, the City of Bogalusa, had no outstanding claim against it and had paid no monies to the plaintiffs in the public records request lawsuit, and despite the fact that Tyrin Troung had no contractual relationship with the insurance company.

On or after June 11, 2024. the insurance company caused a check in the amount of $4,650.14, made payable to the City of Bogalusa, to be delivered to Tyrin Truong. Tyrin Troung then delivered the check to a city employee. ordered that employee to have the check deposited in a city bank account, and further ordered that a check be drafted from that City of Bogalusa bank account in the amount of $4.650.14 and delivered to Tyrin Truong. Tyrin Truong later negotiated

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22D460778. LSP Bureau of Investigation# 24-046208

that cheek, taking those monies without authorization from the City Council and "reimbursing" himself for his own personal debt. a debt which was incurred through his unlawful acts:

2. Accepting salary payments in excess of the amount authorized by law and/or accepting payments for leave time not earned:

3. Requiring Known Contractor A. after Contractor A bid for and received a contract to perform specific services for the City of Bogalusa. to include Contractor B in the work and compensate Contractor B. Contractor B. who Mayor Truong knew had already demonstrated an inability to correctly complete a different work assignment for the City of Bogalusa, then received monies paid to Contractor A and performed no work in connection with the contract:

4. Misusing public funds by soliciting a prostitute and then meeting with that prostitute in an Airbnb rental in Atlanta paid for by the City of Bogalusa;

5. Transacting business with drug dealers who operated within the City of Bogalusa by purchasing illegal narcotices and making payments through an electronic payment application. and then intentionally failing to report the criminal activity of these drug dealers to law enforcement, allowing the drug dealers to operate undetected in the City of Bogalusa:

6. Causing a City of Bogalusa public works crew to perform extensive plumbing work at a residence occupied by Tyrin Truong's mother when said work was the responsibility of the property owner, not the responsibility of the City of Bogalusa. The public works crew was paid by the City of Bogalusa for the hours worked for the sole benefit of Tyrin Truong and members of his family. The pipes and other materials used by the public works crew were the property of the City of Bogalusa, and the value of the materials and labor stolen from the City of Bogalusa were valued in excess of $1000.00. Following the misappropriation of services and materials, a cover up then followed. as James Patterson created a falsified paper trail that included an 1-Worq entry, a work order, and emails. The work order was back dated by James Patterson, and he created an email trail that falsely reported that Tyrin Truong's mother's plumbing was damaged by city workers. Tyrin Truong perpetuated this false narrative: and/or

7. Soliciting a bribe from a representative of Diamond Scaffolding Services. LLC ("Diamond").

suggesting to that representative that he should work out a lease rate for land owned by the City of Bogalusa and that only half of the money should be paid to the City of Bogalusa and the other half be paid as a bribe. As a result of that action. Diamond, a company that is based in the City of Bogalusa. determined that it would no longer seek a warehouse expansion in the City of Bogalusa. costing the City of Bogalusa approximately thirty (30) or more newjobs. approximately $75.000 in additional dollars in tax revenue, and an expanded annual economic impact in excess of $1.000.000 by year three of operation. Following Tyrin Truong's failed effort to solicit a bribe. Diamond purchased land outside the City of Bogalusa not only to house its planned warehouse expansion but also the entirety of its business operation.

COUNT 2

R.S. 14:122.A. C and D PUBLIC INTIMIDATION

TYRIN Z. TRUONG. on or about March 7,2025, by using extortionate threats or true threats upon Leslie Pittman, with the intent to influence her conduct in relation to her position as a public employee.

COUNT 3

R.S. 14:122.A. C and D PUBLIC INTIMIDATION

TYRIN Z. TRUONG, on or about April 16, 2025. by using extortionate threats or true threats upon Samantha Williams, with the intent to influence her conduct in relation to her position as a public employee.

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22D460778, LSP Bureau of Investigation# 24-046208

COUNT 4

R.S. 14:67.A and B(2) THEFT VALUED AT $5,000 OR MORE BUT LESS THAN $25,000

TYRIN Z. TRUONG. on or between January 8, 2023 and February 28, 2025, by the misappropriation or taking of anything of value belonging to the City of Bogalusa, either without the consent of the other or by means of fraudulent conduct, practices or representations, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner thereof, wherein the misappropriation or taking amounted to a value of five thousand dollars ($5.000.00) or more but less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25.000.00).

Contrary to the form of the Statutes of the State of Louisiana, in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the same.

J. COLLIN SIMS

DISTRICT ATTORNEY

22ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT

STATE OF LOUISIANA

BY:

STATÈ OF LOUISIANA

Versus

TYRIN Z. TRUONG

INDICTMENT FOR

14:134.A(2). (3) and C - Malfeasance in office

14:122.A. C and D - Public intimidation

14:122.A. C and D - Public intimidation

14:67.A and B(2) - Theft valued at $5,000 or more but less than $25,000

A TRUE BILL

Venien

Foreperson of the Grand Jury