News

'Gotcha Mug,' Hebert?

by Heather Miller

Wednseday, September 28, 2011
By Heather Miller

Following last week's cover story, tips continue to pour in on BIA and its immoral mastermind.

Wednseday, September 28, 2011
By Heather Miller

Following last week's cover story, tips continue to pour in on BIA and its immoral mastermind.

One of Chris Hebert's past profile pics on Facebook

When The Independent exposed Busted in Acadiana mastermind Christopher Hebert and the troubling tactics he used to profit from his wildly popular and now defunct Facebook mug shot page, we inadvertently left out one very humorous detail: Christopher Hebert has a mug shot of his own.

According to court documents filed in the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court's Office, the 35-year-old unemployed husband of a Lafayette police officer was arrested Dec. 1, 2001, for public intimidation, disturbing the peace by appearing intoxicated and remaining where forbidden. The arrest stems from an incident on Jefferson Street in which Hebert, according to his indictment, used "violence, force and threats" on a police officer.

The public intimidation and disturbing the peace charges were dropped in exchange for Hebert pleading guilty to remaining where forbidden, a misdemeanor that cost him $316.50 in fines and court costs and landed him six months of probation.

A copy of Hebert's mug shot is unavailable because the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office doesn't keep booking photos dating that far back. Louisiana State Police, which archives mug shots statewide, can't release the archived images because they're stored through IAFIS, an FBI database that's considered a private investigative tool and not public record.
Hebert, the hypocrite who banned BIA nonbelievers from his page and labeled them as defenders of criminals, denies any involvement with Busted despite the overwhelming evidence that says otherwise. Since the cover story was published Sept. 21, The Ind has received even more proof that Hebert is the man behind the page.

The Ind pointed out last week that bustedinacadiana.com, wantedinacadiana.com, deletemymug.com and gotchamug.com all share identical Web hosting from a California company, TierraNet. The first three, bustedinacadiana.com, wantedinacadiana.com and deletemymug.com, use the same domain protection service to protect the identity of website owners. The fourth site that came from the California company is gotchamug.com. The registrant for the site is Christopher Hebert.

An anonymous email sent to The Ind after the story's publication shows Christopher Hebert as the registrant of bustedinacadiana.com before he employed the domain protection service. The info was verified using a paid-for search of Domain Tools, which states that Christopher Hebert registered the site on March 18, 2011.

The Independent has since been handed a few additional tips regarding Christopher Hebert. We're sifting through them and believe there's more to this story.

Meanwhile, the Lafayette Police Department is continuing its internal investigation into Hebert's wife, LPD officer Amanda Hebert, and whether her access to law enforcement resources played a role in BIA's operations.

Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Craig Stansbury says the agency has looked into complaints over BIA's mugshot removal system, but the district attorney's office advised at the time that charging for mug shot removals does not constitute extortion because people requested the service. The charge to remove the photo, Stansbury says, is likened to an administrative fee.

Neither local law enforcement agency is conducting a separate criminal investigation into Christopher Hebert or Busted in Acadiana.