GOLDEN MEADOW — On Michelle Lafont’s first day as the newly elected police chief of this tiny speed-trap town and shrimping community on the way to Port Fourchon, the door of her Town Hall office wouldn’t budge.

You’ve got to be kidding me, she thought.

Her predecessor, former Golden Meadow Police Chief Troy Dufrene, had locked the keys inside the office after losing the November 2024 election by an excruciating nine votes, she said.

That wasn’t all.

The day after Dufrene lost, state criminal investigators say he began deleting computer records pertaining to the police department’s citations, calls for service, theft complaints and warrants. He also deleted administrative records like payroll sheets and fuel reimbursement reports, investigators said.

Dufrene continued doing so thr

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