A former employee at the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office is accused of theft and bribery.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that 39-year-old Kenneth Lawson and Areion Banks were formally indicted. Advertisement

Lawson worked at OPSO as a Grants Manager from August 2022 to November 2024. Prosecutors allege Lawson and Banks devised a scheme to steal OPSO checks and deposit them into their own accounts. Prosecutors say those schemes diverted approximately $15,000 in OPSO funds.

Banks, according to prosecutors, paid Lawson bribes up to nearly $6,000.

But prosecutors say the scheme didn't end there.

Lawson allegedly requested a $3.9 million grant from the Justice Department that was set to go to OPSO. Prosecutors say he asked the DOJ to disperse at least $100,000 of that money to a fin

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