Pubdate: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 Source: Advocate, The (LA) Copyright: 2002 The Advocate, Capital City Press Contact: http://www.theadvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2 Author: Ryan Goudelocke, Advocate Staff Writer POLICE CHIEF ARRESTED IN DRUG INVESTIGATION Carenco Police arrested Grand Coteau's police chief after midnight Saturday during an ongoing drug investigation. Raymond Simmons was booked into Lafayette Parish Correctional Center in Lafayette soon after his arrest on one count each of possession of Schedule IV narcotics and malfeasance in office, booking records show. He posted $20,000 bond just before 9 a.m. and was released. "When it comes to this type of deal, we've got no choice other than to do our jobs," Carencro's Police Chief Timmy Duhon said Saturday evening. He said they had heard that a law enforcement officer from St. Landry Parish was buying illicit prescription drugs from a particular house. Carencro Police had been watching the house for at least four months, hoping to catch suspects. Duhon said Simmons was buying Lortab, a prescription painkiller, for a "bedridden" friend afflicted with severe pain. "We're going to contact a few doctors Monday to let them know what's going on," Duhon said. "What we understand is, (the people selling drugs were) going around to different doctors; they'll get 120 from one, 90 from another." He declined to identify the occupants of the house, the address, the sellers or buyers, hinting that more arrests may happen soon. A woman who answered the phone at Grand Coteau's Police Department Saturday evening declined comment. She said she did not know how many people are on the police force in the St. Landry Parish city, which has a population of 1,040. St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, reached by phone while traveling, said he did not have the particulars of the case in front of him. He referred questions to Chief Criminal Deputy Laura Balthazar, but she did not return repeated telephone messages. In 1996, Simmons was suspended without pay, but not arrested or charged with any crime, after the shooting death of a suspected convenience-store robber near Grand Coteau's Town Hall. Clarence Barlow, 25, died in a hail of gunfire about 8 a.m. in late June 1996. Simmons was a police officer in Grand Coteau when Barlow allegedly robbed a store in neighboring Sunset, then fled. Ballistics tests determined another officer's bullet killed Barlow, but controversy over the incident roiled nearby towns for weeks, inciting marches, a business boycott and accusations of racism. Grand Coteau's aldermen reinstated Simmons in a 3-2 vote several weeks after Barlow's death. The date of his hiring as police chief was not available. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart