A decision on whether to prosecute former Lafayette Regional Airport Aviation Director Greg Roberts for a June 11 incident that ultimately led to his retirement a few days later is now in the hands of the District Attorney's Office.
Photo by Robin May
Former Lafayette Regional Airport Aviation Director Greg Roberts
A decision on whether to prosecute former Lafayette Regional Airport Aviation Director Greg Roberts for a June 11 incident that ultimately led to his retirement a few days later is now in the hands of the District Attorney's Office.
In an interview with The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Craig Stansbury confirms that an investigation of the incident has been completed and a report will soon be submitted to the DA's office for review. It's up to the DA's office to decide whether it will pursue prosecution.
"There's really no more for us to look into," Stansbury tells the Advertiser. "Nobody is complaining about being a victim."
Though airport officials have only released minimal details of the incident to the media, The IND, as previously reported here, has spoken with anonymous sources close to the airport who filled us in on the gaps of the story.
According to one source, the incident happened during a meeting with airport staff and contract engineers who work regularly for the airport, indicating this was more or less a staff meeting. Roberts, however, became frustrated with the way the discussion was going, and jokingly pulled out a mock pistol and aimed it at one of the engineers in the meeting saying he knew how to change the man's mind.
What the engineer didn't realize - or the others in the room for that matter - was that what looked like a live action pistol was actually a non-functional training devise used by the federal Transportation Security Administration, meaning it had no working trigger or barrel. Yet, Roberts didn't tell them it was fake, leaving those in the meeting to think it was a real gun.
"It was a joke that went bad," says our source.
After being placed on administrative leave by the Airport Commission, Roberts, after 21 years with the airport, retired on June 15, four days after the incident. Mike Burrows, deputy director of aviation, was appointed as interim director until a permanent replacement is found.