In today’s episode of 50 Cent Could Turn This Into A TV Drama, a Louisiana mayor has been arrested and accused of soliciting prostitutes, purchasing illegal drugs, and being among suspects accused of using drug money to buy firearms and using social media to facilitate deals.
Source: SeventyFour / Getty
According to the Grio, Bogalusa Mayor Tyrin Truong, one of the youngest mayors in U.S. history, was charged Tuesday with engaging in transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses and the illicit solicitation of sex work, among other offenses. The 25-year-old mayor (elected in 2022 when he was 23) is among seven defendants charged following an investigation conducted by the Louisiana state police and the Bogalusa Police Department beginning in April 2024.
The state police said in a statement that investigators allege Truong and the other defendants used “social media platforms to distribute [drugs illegally] and manage payments” from customers, “further expanding their reach and criminal activity.”
In addition to all of that, Truong is accused of operating his alleged drug ring out of a moveable, which Fox 8 described as “a legal term in Louisiana that refers to intentionally taking or using someone’s personal property without their consent.”
From the Grio:
“The investigation also determined that profits from drug sales were used to purchase firearms,” the state police’s statement continued. Some of those guns were then funneled to people who could not legally possess those weapons – and others “were linked to violent crimes in the Bogalusa area”, the statement added.
Colin Sims, the Louisiana district attorney whose jurisdiction includes Bogalusa, on Tuesday alleged that Truong “organized entertainment with” a sex worker at a short-term rental home that he rented with public funds as he attended a mayor’s conference in Atlanta.
Six others from Bogalusa also are charged with transactions involving drug-related proceeds. They are MacKenzie Lynn Cefalu, 24; De-Saleem Wali Pittman, 24; Dirul S Pittman, 22; Salehal-Dien Malike Pittman, 26; Tonya Renee Stage, 51; and Devan Michael Williams, 28.
Accordig to Sims, Truong and his six associates were opperating “a large drug-trafficking organization” and that they weren’t the only people involved. In fact, the district attorney said Tuesday night that they only represent “seven of 20” who were involved and that “t
here will be more arrests, probably before this evening is out, and well into the next couple of days.”
As if this wasn’t already a real-life story that has all the makings of either a very good crime drama or a very bad Tubi script, when Truong, at the tnder age of 23, defeated two-term incumbent Wendy Perrette in 2022 to become Bogalusa’s new young mayor, he did so by running on what some people (*gestures widely towards bootlicking Republicans*) would consider an anti-police platform. Fox 8 noted that he was critical of the city’s police department and that he even suggested it should be disbanded and replaced by the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office. There are probably a lot of cops in the Bogalusa Police Department who are doing a victory lap right now after throwing darts at the mayor’s photo in the breakroom for the last couple of years. (It’s still f**k 12 though.)
Bruh — we’re barely even a full week into 2025 and it’s already looking a mess out here. Stay safe, good people!
