St. Martinville officer sentenced in bias case

Image
Body

By CLAIRE TAYLOR ctaylor
@theadvocate.com
Codi Dodge, 35, a former deputy chief of investigations for the St. Martinville Police Department, was sentenced in federal court Thursday to nine years in prison on four felony counts for abuse of a suspect.
Dodge, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lafayette, was convicted following a five-day trial in November for violating the civil rights of someone under arrest by using excessive force that injured the individual and for obstructing justice and conspiring with others to do so.
Evidence at the trial the news release states, established that on Aug. 13, 2016, Dodge forced his way into the home of an individual he suspected had stolen from him, then threatened the individual before striking him in the face with a gun. Dodge then arrested the man, took him to the St. Martinville Police Department and continued to threaten him.
Later, after he learned the incident was reported to the FBI, Dodge allegedly conspired with other St. Martinville Police Department officers to falsify reports.