“Did You Know”
November 12, 2026
Did you know we have a state-of-the-art crime lab right here in Acadiana? The new Bo Duhe
Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory opened in October 2025 – a $26 million, 40,000 square-
foot facility in New Iberia serving eight parishes. It handles DNA analysis, blood alcohol
testing, drug identification, firearms and ballistics, toolmarks and other forensic work that helps
solve cases and bring closure to victims and their families.
In the last six (6) years, from 2020 to 2026, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office contributed
$931,881.00 dollars as mandated by LRS 40:2266, to the crime lab for its operations. Every
defendant who is convicted after trial, or who enters a plea of guilty, or of nolo contendere, or
who forfeits his/her bond is contributing fees in accordance with state law (LRS 40:2266).
In July 2026, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office was forced to pay an additional $81,360.00
to the crime lab due to St. Landry Parish Government’s failure to honor their written
commitment in an agreement to the crime lab (Parish Resolution #017-2022), passed and
supported by the Parish Council and President.
The signed agreement was passed in June 2022. In June 2024, their portion of the agreement
promised by resolution #017-2022 had not been paid. (Please fact-check the Sheriff. If needed,
come by the office at 1592 East Prudhome Street, Opelousas to obtain or view all receipts.)
All eight parishes; (Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, Acadia, Vermillion, St. Mary, St. Landry
and Evangeline served by the Acadiana Criminalistics Lab agreed to cover the $5 million-
dollar one-time shared payment to the crime lab matching funds requested for the project.
We send money every month based on court costs and fines from qualifying cases – for
example, $50 for a DWI or $30 for traffic violations. The Sheriff collects these for district court
cases and remits them to the lab on the first of each month. City marshals do the same for
city/ward cases. That has been the law for years.
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Explanation of the State funding project; The state agreed to fund 75% of the new lab. The
remaining $5 million in matching funds had to come from the local governments the lab serves.
As explained previously, the Acadiana Crime Lab Commission set each parish government’s
share using a formula based on the number of evidence cases that government’s law-
enforcement submitted to the lab in 2019 – the last full year before COVID-19.
In June 2022, the St. Landry Parish Council passed Resolution #017-2022, committing our
parish government to $81,360 under the aforementioned formula. This is the agreed
portion amount that was owed to the crime lab and was not paid by parish government. It
is now owed to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.
That bill sat unpaid for four (4) years. In early 2026, our Criminal Investigations Division
supervisors learned that two serious cases soon to be brought to court – a homicide and a string
of ATM burglaries – had evidence submitted to the crime lab in January 2024. The evidence
was not analyzed by the crime lab due to the fact that St. Landry Parish Government did not pay
their share of the “matching funds”. The Crime Lab personnel state to the Sheriff, “Your
evidence is not being prioritized” because of the non-payment of the aforementioned
commitment by the St. Landry Parish Government. The St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s
Office couldn’t move forward without those results.
The Sheriff contacted the crime lab about the case analyzation delay and the unpaid matching
funds. After that phone contact, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office made the payment so our
cases could move forward.
On July 16, 2026, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office paid the $81,360.00 that Parish
Government had consented to pay through resolution #017-2022.
The homicide results came back in April 2026 – over two years after submission. The ATM
burglary results still haven’t arrived as of November 5, 2026.
It is my hope, as your Sheriff, that this clears up any confusion regarding the Iberia Crime Lab
payment.
