Baton Rouge Police who searched the home of fired Parish Attorney Mary Roper on Saturday were looking for evidence that someone from Roper’s home hacked into the webmail accounts of employees from the parish attorney’s office. According to a search warrant filed earlier today, police seized computers, computer equipment, electronic files, storage media, cables, modems, cell phones and other records from Roper’s Oakbrook Drive residence.
The probe began in October, after police were notified that an unknown user had accessed the webmail account of Assistant Parish Attorney Dawn Guillot on Oct. 13 at 1 a.m., and forwarded her emails to another city-parish employee, the warrant states. Investigators were able to track the IP address and determine the email had been forwarded from Roper’s home computer, the warrant says. They also found several other instances where someone used her home computer to tap into the city-parish’s email server. Among the webmail accounts allegedly tapped were those of acting Parish Attorney Lea Anne Batson.
Roper’s attorney, Wade Shows, says in a written statement the public should be “outraged … that at least a dozen police officers appeared on a Saturday afternoon at the home of a well-respected attorney … to execute a search warrant, which was issued in response to a baseless allegation that Mary Roper may have committed a misdemeanor.” Daily Report has the full story.
