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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: Federal prosecutors have filed a 62-count indictment against a Louisiana businessman and four senior law enforcement officials over an alleged scheme to use false police reports to obtain U-Visa status for illegal immigrants who paid them tens of thousands of dollars.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Local Louisiana businessman Chandrakant “Lala” Patel; Chad Doyle, Chief of Police for the City of Oakdale; Glynn Dixon, Chief of Police for the City of Forest Hill; Tebo Onishea, former Chief of Police for the City of Glenmora; Michael “Freck” Slaney, Marshal of the Ward 5 Marshal’s Office in Oakdale; and unnamed illegal immigrants.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The indictment was revealed on July 16, 2025; the scheme is alleged to have taken place from at least December 26, 2015, until July 15, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “[T]he defendants each face a sentence of up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; up to 10 years on the visa fraud charges; up to 20 years on the mail fraud charge; and Patel faces up to 10 years on the bribery charge. In addition, they could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. “
🎯IMPACT: The federal charges raise questions regarding the legitimacy of U-Visa status and the potential for the program’s abuse.
IN FULL
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana has moved to indict three local Louisiana police chiefs, a city marshal, and a prominent business leader over an alleged immigration fraud scheme that gamed the U nonimmigrant status (“U-Visa”) system.
According to the 62-count indictment, local Louisiana businessman Chandrakant Patel—also known as “Lala”—conspired from at least December 26, 2015, until July 15, 2025 with Chad Doyle, Chief of Police for the City of Oakdale; Glynn Dixon, Chief of Police for the City of Forest Hill; Tebo Onishea, former Chief of Police for the City of Glenmora; and Michael “Freck” Slaney, Marshal of the Ward 5 Marshal’s Office in Oakdale to fabricate crimes in which illegal immigrants or legal immigrants with expiring status would be named as victims or witnesses. This allowed the immigrants to falsely obtain a U-Visa, allowing them to remain in the United States legally.
Federal prosecutors allege that illegal and legal immigrants would contact Patel either directly or through an intermediary to request to be named as “victims” in false police reports, paying Patel tens of thousands of dollars for the criminal act. Subsequently, after payment, Patel would proceed to contact either Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, or Onishea in order to have a false police report, usually regarding armed robbery, created with the immigrant’s name listed as the victim or witness. This would then allow the immigrant to file an application for a U-Visa, with the police report nearly guaranteeing they would secure status.
Notably, the U nonimmigrant status or U-Visa was created in 2000 through Congress’s adoption of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act. The law’s intent is to aid law enforcement investigations by granting the ability to provide certain legal protections to illegal immigrants who are either victims or material witnesses to a crime—effecively removing the threat of deportation in exchange for their cooperation.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “[T]he defendants each face a sentence of up to 5 years in prison on the conspiracy charge; up to 10 years on the visa fraud charges; up to 20 years on the mail fraud charge; and Patel faces up to 10 years on the bribery charge. In addition, they could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. “
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