BATON ROUGE - WBRZ's Investigative Unit uncovered new details investigators say link District 6 Councilman Cleve Dunn to a corruption investigation involving CATS.

In a 19th JDC courtroom on Wednesday morning, Dunn was indicted on two counts each of bribery and money laundering, as well as public contract fraud, illegal split commission of commodities, and malfeasance in office.

He is also being charged with multiple counts of conspiracy connected to the scheme.

WBRZ previously reported that Dunn is a previously unindicted co-conspirator mentioned in indictments of former Capital Area Transit System Chief Administrator Pearlina Thomas and CATS contractors Jay Colar, Terral “TJ” Jackson, and Erica Jackson, issued earlier this month.

                    
Pearlina Thomas                       Jarian "Jay" Colar               Erica Jackson              Terral "TJ" Jackson               

According to documents obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, agents with the Louisiana Department of Justice say Dunn abused his elected position of power in order to secure a $50,000 contract with CATS.

Agents say Dunn introduced Colar to Thomas while she was CEO of CATS, used his influence as a councilmember to issue a contract to Supreme Solutions, and profited through kickbacks from the purported owner of that company, Jay Colar.  

In addition, Supreme Solutions LLC was paid for work that investigators could not substantiate and that Colar reportedly admitted was plagiarized.

Colar is listed as the current owner, but records indicate Dunn and his wife were the previous owners.   Agents, however, allege Colar never had control of the bank account for the company.

In addition, documents obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit say the company was paid $50,000, at least $33,000 of which was converted to checks made out to “C.G." Agents have confirmed what WBRZ has reported: “C.G.” is Core Group LLC, a company registered to Dunn.

Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Noel said that, while saddened by the news of Dunn's indictment, he will not pass judgment on a colleague until he has his day in court.

"I have faith in our justice system to uncover the facts and root out the truth, whatever that may be," Noel said over the phone while in Washington, D.C., where Councilman Dunn, Noel, and other Louisiana lawmakers are currently visiting for Washington Mardi Gras. "Should any wrongdoing be found, I feel that all involved should be held accountable."

Noel said that it was not a shock, given previous media reports.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards released the following statement on Thursday:

I am limited in what I can say about these matters involving Councilman Dunn. As with all individuals, he is entitled to due process, and the justice system should be allowed to do its work.What I can say is that since taking office, my administration has been contacted by multiple investigative agencies, and we have cooperated fully with requests from those authorities. These allegations are especially disturbing at a time when we are working to conduct government with integrity and respect for taxpayers’ dollars. I believe that anyone suspected of or charged with misusing taxpayer dollars or other resources should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I want to be clear that these matters relate to actions that occurred prior to my taking office. When I ran for Mayor-President, I told the people of this parish that integrity would define my administration. That is why, upon taking office, we conducted a comprehensive review of programs involving state and federal funding and put stronger safeguards in place to ensure integrity across city-parish government.

Attorney General Liz Murrill said that her office expects "additional indictments based upon this ongoing grand jury investigation."