The Real Ricky

Ricky Templet and Potential Corruption Issues:

Misuse of Federal Flood Funds

Zoning Violations

Ethics Violations

Property Tax Evasion

Ricky Templet holding bunch of money

Overview

A Jefferson Parish elected official for nearly 25 years, Former Councilman Ricky Templet is under scrutiny for a litany of potential violations of federal, state and local laws.

Background

Jefferson Parish Councilman Ricky Templet is under scrutiny for allegedly misusing federal flood mitigation funds to build a second new home at 4969 Decamp St, Lafitte, LA almost entirely using taxpayer funds.

Research shows that Templet may have:

  • Misused Federal FEMA Funds that were handled by Jefferson Parish Government
  • Falsified property documents to qualify for funds
  • Committed zoning violations for classifying a home as “storage”
  • Failure to disclose property taxes and their correct value on required ethics disclosures
  • Failure to pay property taxes equal to the value of the new home.

The Story

Templet used two FEMA sources of funds, via Jefferson Parish Government, to build himself a BRAND NEW home valued at $225,178. Templet only paid $17,928 out of pocket to the construction of this new second home.[1]

In 2018, Templet was the owner of two adjoining lots in, Lafitte, Louisiana.[2] At the time, Google images and parish documents confirm that just one of the lots occupied a raised home and the second lot was vacant.

original house shown in Google on Former Councilman Ricky Templet's property

Google Maps street view of 4969 Decamp St, Lafitte, LA 70067 (December 2018)

Google images show that the original home was neither raised, demolished or modified in any substantial mitigation manner. However, the same Google Maps images show a brand new, nearly quarterly million-dollar home adjacent to the original house which Templet rezoned into self declared “storage”.[3] This declaration of storage raises further questions as Template’s Personal Financial Disclosure Statements before the Louisiana Department of Ethics continued to report the original home as rental real estate.

two houses shown in Google on Former Councilman Ricky Templet's property

Google Maps street view of 4969 Decamp St, Lafitte, LA 70067 (December 2024)

Upon further inspection of Jefferson Parish Tax Records, the value of the new home was either omitted completely or underrepresented for a nearly two year period.[4]

Jefferson Parish Sheriff and Tax Collector website screenshot showing Former Councilman Ricky Templet's property information for the house.

Raising further speculation about Templet’s desire to avoid public scrutiny or disclosure, Templet failed to report the proper value of the property which now included two homes. On his self-reported Public Finance Disclosure with the Louisiana Department of Ethics, Templet valued the real estate as a Category III Value of Interest of $25,000 to $100,000 in value. This disclosure ignores the obvious value of a new, second home worth in excess of $225,000 and does not include the value of the original home or the value of the two lots that were combined into a single larger lot.[5] The value reported on his ethics reports apparently only included the value of his older home now zoned as “storage”.[5]