The former Golden Meadow police chief deleted more than 12 years' worth of records after losing his race for re-election, Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.

Troy Dufrene has been arrested on counts of injuring public records, malfeasance in office and computer tampering, Murrill's office said in a news release released Thursday.

Between losing the election in November and vacating his office at the end of 2024, Dufrene allegedly deleted traffic citations, fuel expenditures, arrest reports, payroll information and other data from the police department's case management system.

"Dufrene’s actions caused significant disruption to the police department’s operations as officials have struggled to retrieve the deleted records," the release says.

This is a developing story.

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