Justin B. Champlin, the chief deputy assessor in Ascension Parish, illegally lowered the property tax assessment on his own property two different times in an apparent effort to save money, police said.
Champlin was arrested Tuesday on one count of malfeasance in office and two counts each of injuring public records and computer tampering, police said in a statement.
Champlin had been with the Assessor's Office since 2012 and was terminated from his job on April 2, according to the assessor and police.Â
Champlin, 45, was a longtime aide to four-term Assessor M.J. "Mert" Smiley Jr. and has played a key role in modernizing the department's record-keeping and property assessment efforts.
Reached by phone, Smiley said Champlin is no longer with his office. The assessor declined to comment on the arrest.
Police officers said their investigation was prompted by an internal Assessor's Office audit that "indicated possible malfeasance by Champlin, while serving as the Deputy Assessor."
Police officers, who received the audit on April 17, said their investigation later found Champlin tampered with and lowered "assessed values on his personal property."
The assessed values are used for annual property tax calculations; lower assessed values result in lower property taxes.
It is the job of the assessor's office to value properties in a parish for the purposes of taxation. Those tax revenues are used to fund schools, law enforcement and other local agencies — including, in Ascension, the Assessor's Office.
That valuation process can lead to property values being lowered or, often in fast-growing Ascension, raised.
Police didn't explain how what Champlin did constituted an improper lowering of his property valuations.
Ami Clouatre, spokeswoman for Gonzales Police, declined to say how much Champlin lowered his assessed values and how much that affected his tax bill, but she did say the tampering happened in two consecutive years.
Champlin, of Bluff Heritage Avenue, Geismar, remained in the parish jail Tuesday without bail.
Gonzales police said they have completed their investigation of all relevant allegations against Champlin.
Their case is being finalized and turned over to the District Attorney's Office for review and possible prosecution, police said.
