Louisiana officials charged in immigration fraud and money laundering scheme
Feds say businessman paid police chiefs to falsify crime reports for immigration benefits
LAFAYETTE, La. (Gray News) - Federal prosecutors have unsealed a sweeping indictment against five individuals, including current and former Louisiana law enforcement officers, accused of orchestrating a years-long scheme to exploit the U.S. immigration system for personal profit.
Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook announced Wednesday that the charges are part of “Operation Take Back America.” The 62-count indictment includes allegations of conspiracy, bribery, mail fraud, immigration fraud, visa fraud, and money laundering.
The five people indicted are:
- Chandrakant Patel, businessman and Subway restaurant owner
- Chad Doyle, Oakdale Police Chief
- Michael “Freck” Slaney, Oakdale City Marshal
- Glynn Dixon, Forest Hill Police Chief
- Tebo Onishea, former police chief of Glenmora
According to the 21-page indictment, the alleged conspiracy spanned at least a decade, beginning as early as 2015 and continuing through July 2025.
Investigators say the group conspired to fraudulently obtain hundreds of U-Visas, special non-immigrant visas reserved for victims or witnesses of serious crimes who assist law enforcement.
Prosecutors allege that businessman Chandrakant Patel orchestrated the scheme by collecting payments from foreign nationals and coordinating with law enforcement officers across multiple Louisiana jurisdictions to create fraudulent U-Visas.
According to the indictment, Patel collected money from foreign nationals who were not actually victims or witnesses of crimes. Patel allegedly paid law enforcement officers $5,000 per fake report in exchange for official documentation falsely claiming these individuals were crime victims.
Van Hook says hundreds of names were used and U-Visas approved.
The indictment lists more than 50 acts, detailing how Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, City Marshal Michael Slaney, Forest Hill Police Chief Chad Dixon, and former Glenmora Police Chief Tibo Onishea each filed false police reports to support U-Visa applications. These reports falsely claimed that specific individuals were victims of armed robberies that, prosecutors say, never occurred.
The fraudulent reports, signed by police officers, allowed the foreign nationals and their family members to remain in the United States under false pretenses.
There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana,” Van Hook said.
“In fact, the armed robberies never took place,” he said.
The current and former police chiefs are from small central Louisiana municipalities that are near each other. They’re in a part of the state that is home to multiple immigration detention facilities. Although Louisiana doesn’t share a border with a foreign country, there are nine ICE detention facilities in the state — holding nearly 7,000 people.
The false police reports included fabricated case numbers, fake narratives, and staged details about the use of weapons or threats to lend credibility to the claims. The indictment also notes that the conspirators took steps to launder the money earned through the scheme, using it to purchase material goods, real estate, vehicles, and cover personal expenses.
Van Hook and others said at the news conference that the arrest of the current or former chiefs and two other people doesn’t mean their police departments are corrupt.
Federal authorities say a payment in February 2025 was made to a member of the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, but that report was flagged and never submitted, thanks to cooperation from Sheriff Mark Wood.
All five individuals were taken into custody as part of Tuesday’s multi-agency operation, which spanned Oakdale, Forest Hill, and Baton Rouge.
Federal prosecutors say the misuse of U-Visas undermines the integrity of the immigration system and the trust placed in law enforcement officers responsible for certifying claims and bringing justice to victims of crimes.
If convicted, the defendants face years in federal prison and possible financial penalties for conspiracy, visa fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
In 2021, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services warned that the U-visa program was susceptible to fraud after an audit from the Office of Inspector General found they had not addressed deficiencies in their process.
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