Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope's legal problems mounted Thursday as a grand jury handed down another criminal indictment on seven felony counts of malfeasance in office. That’s on top of the seven felonies that Pope is scheduled to be tried on in less than two weeks.

The latest charges accuse Pope of unlawfully taking Marshal’s Office funds on seven occasions this year, from January to July. The total amount Pope is accused of taking exceeds $13,000.

The indictment itself does not elaborate on the circumstances or methods of the alleged crimes, but they appear related to Pope’s documented habit of pocketing revenue from court fees in apparent violation of state law. The indictment cites a statute prohibiting city marshals in Lafayette and Shreveport from the practice of personally receiving this revenue, unlike marshals in 16 other municipalities.

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.

That law is also cited in a Jan. 29 Attorney General’s opinion that District Attorney Keith Stutes requested. The opinion is dated two days before the first count of impropriety in the latest indictment.

+7 Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope gets two more years to complete court-ordered community service A judge has reset the clock for Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope to complete 173 hours of community service, although the marshal will still …

A warrant for Pope’s arrest was issued Thursday, and he was not yet in custody as of 4 p.m., according to a Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Pope’s bond was set at $35,000.

The chief deputy of the City Marshal’s Office, Phil Conrad, said Pope was unavailable to discuss the indictment. Conrad declined further comment.

An attorney representing Pope in his pending criminal trial, John McLindon, said he found the timing of the new indictment “highly suspect.”

“I don’t know what their motive was,” McLindon said. “It’s going to be hard enough to pick a jury, based on all the pre-trial publicity, and this will only make it harder.”

Stutes brushed aside McLindon’s suspicions.

“I’m not going to have a retort or comment to anything that counsel has said about what his assumptions are about the timing,” Stutes said. “These are clearly counts with alleged dates that are well after the dates of the alleged prior offenses that are presently set for trial.”

The new charges come as Pope prepares for his Sept. 24 trial on seven counts of malfeasance and perjury stemming from allegations in a civil lawsuit, and his conduct during those proceedings.

+2 Judge dismisses Pope's longshot motion to dismiss indictment; trial set for September A 15th Judicial District judge on Thursday denied Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope’s longshot motion to dismiss the criminal indictment against him.

That lawsuit was filed by The Independent newspaper, which sought public records related to Pope’s 2015 campaign activities on behalf of Scott Police Chief Chad Leger. Leger was running for sheriff against Mark Garber, who won the race and currently holds that office.

Pope refused to turn over the records, even after a 15th Judicial District Court judge ordered him to do so, leading to a finding in March 2016 that he was in contempt of court. Pope was briefly jailed after Judge Jules Edwards revoked Pope’s probation on the contempt finding, citing Pope’s failure to perform community service in lieu of a 30-day jail sentence.

Pope was free while appealing the jail sentence, and last month the Third Circuit Court of Appeal found that Edwards wrongly revoked the marshal’s probation.