The Louisiana Department of Corrections is investigating whether a sheriff had a state inmate perform yard work at his private home.
Agency spokesman Ken Pastorick told The Advocate Thursday that the probe of West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Mike Cazes is in its early stages. WAFB-TV reports 32-year-old inmate Elmer Castillo was seen working unsupervised at the home last week.
Castillo is serving time for sexual battery against a 13-year-old. The sheriff says he hired Castillo to work at his home and was personally paying him for the labor.
Pastorick says the inmate had been assigned to the area work release program and was meant to do work at the facility itself, not in the community. Pastorick says an inmate would never be assigned to work at a personal residence.