Multiple bowling outings lead to LPSO jailer’s firing, arrest

A six-month state police investigation into a Lafourche Parish correctional officer’s claim that a 2008 traffic accident left her virtually debilitated ended last Wednesday with the woman’s firing and arrest.

Former deputy Heather Erwin’s love for bowling sealed her fate, according to Sheriff Craig Webre.

Erwin, 34, was transporting a prisoner to the parish’s detention center Nov. 6, 2008, when her unit was hit from behind.

The prisoner was uninjured and the vehicle’s bumper sustained only minor scratches to the paint, Webre said. Erwin complained of neck pain so severe that even the simplest tasks – sitting at a desk and answering phones – were impossible to do, the sheriff said.

Erwin produced a medical excuse stating she was in too much pain to work and was placed on medical leave, Webre said. Through last Wednesday, the sheriff said she continued to draw her salary and received other monetary benefits – totaling more than $20,000.

But a call Jan. 13 to Lt. J.P. deGravelles would lead to Erwin’s undoing. The caller told deGravelles, a member of the department’s Internal Affairs Division, that Erwin’s ability to work may have been hampered, but it hadn’t slowed her bowling game.

The caller said Erwin was a regular at Wednesday and Friday night league games at two area bowling alleys.

Louisiana State Police, which joined the investigation at Webre’s request, said bowling league records indicate Erwin bowled Wednesday nights at Thibodaux’s Thunder Bowl on 16 occasions – totaling 48 games – between Nov. 12, 2008, and April 15. At Houma’s Bowl South of Louisiana, she racked up 54 games on 18 occasions during the same time frame, authorities said.

Surveillance cameras and undercover officers caught Erwin bowling on a number of those occasions, Webre said.

Erwin turned herself in last week to deGravelles and members of the state police’s Insurance Fraud Section at the Lafourche Parish Detention Center, where she had worked as a correctional officer since June 8, 2005. She was charged with theft, malfeasance in office and insurance fraud.

State police said Erwin committed malfeasance by failing to perform her duty as a Lafourche Parish deputy. The insurance fraud charge stems from the information provided on her Workmen’s Compensation claim and false statements she made during medical evaluations, according to authorities. In addition, Erwin reportedly filed multiple claims with Progressive Insurance and Farm Bureau Insurance companies, state police said.

“I am extremely disappointed in the actions of this employee and believe that anyone who occupies a position of public trust should be held to a higher standard,” Webre said. “Stealing is intolerable and will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law.”