Larry Deen

Larry Callaway Deen (born September 8, 1948)[1] is the retired six-term sheriff of Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana, whose service extended from 1988 until his retirement in 2012.

Larry Callaway Deen
Sheriff of Bossier Parish, Louisiana
In office July 1, 1988 – June 30, 2012
Preceded by	Vol Dooley
Succeeded by	Julian C. Whittington
Personal details
Born	(1948-09-08) September 8, 1948 Reared in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, USA
Political party	Democrat-later-Republican
Spouse(s)	Bobbie Joe Dean
Children	Heath C. Deen
Parents	Jesse C. Deen Evelyn Young Deen
Residence	Benton, Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Occupation	Law-enforcement officer

Background

His father, Jesse C. Deen, was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 to 1988.[2] Deen was born shortly after his parents moved to Bossier Parish. His mother, the former Evelyn Young (born 1930), is a daughter of the late Casper Callaway Young, a Bossier Parish native, and the former Cardille Jones, originally from Simsboro in Lincoln Parish. His father is a native of Grant Parish, a retired educator at the Rocky Mount School in Bossier Parish, a former member of the Bossier Parish Police Jury, and a four-term state legislator.[3]

Service as sheriff

In 1987, Deen resigned as a deputy sheriff to run against his former boss[4] and fellow Democrat, Sheriff Vol Dooley of Bossier City. Deen unseated Dooley, who was seeking a third full term in the office, 17,113 (62 percent) to 7,973 (28.9 percent). Bill Gray, a third Democratic candidate, held the remaining 2,518 votes (9.1 percent).[5] In 1991, Deen won his second term with 89 percent of the vote over another Democrat, Lillian L. Lewter of Bossier City.[6] Deen was thereafter unopposed in the elections of 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007.

From 1996 to 2001, Deen was the president of the Northwest Division of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, an agency created under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to direct federal funds to local and state law enforcement entities with the goal of making them more effective in protecting the citizenry.[7]

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Sheriff Deen provided security for a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to Barksdale Air Force Base, from which Bush addressed the nation on the terrorist threat. Deen's department, along with some one hundred other patrol cars, barricaded entry to Barksdale to protect Bush from threat that did not materialize. The Bush visit and the terrorist threat subsequently propelled Deen to launch the program "Operation Exodus", which is designed to preserve vital resources in event of a catastrophe. The program depends heavily on services from retired law-enforcement personnel.[8]

In December 2003, Deen was stopped for speeding in East Texas while returning to Bossier Parish from a personal trip to Longview. An altercation with the trooper who stopped him was aired some eight months later on KTBS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Shreveport, adjacent to Bossier Parish. Deen paid an $86 ticket for driving 84 m.p.h., fourteen miles above the limit. He also issued a public apology in which he expressed "embarrassment that anything I have done caused any negative shadow to be cast on the parish."[9]

In 2008, Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Deen and his Caddo Parish counterpart, Sheriff Steve Prator, to the 27-member Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, a multi-agency program.[10]

In the 2011 nonpartisan blanket primary, Republican Julian Curtis Whittington (born January 1959), a former chief criminal deputy under Deen, won the right to succeed Deen, who decided to retire. Whittington polled more than 68 percent of the vote.[11] Whittingon's closest rival, Mike McConnell, a former deputy sheriff under Deen[4] and also a Republican, received 20 percent of the ballots cast.[11] Prior to the 2011 primary, Deen had endorsed Whittington over McConnell.[12] Deen later changed his voter registration to Republican; so did Vol Dooley.[1][13]

Deen today

Deen and his wife, the former Bobbie Joe Williamson (also born 1948), reside in the parish seat of Benton.[14] Their son, Heath Calloway Deen (born 1974), resides in Austin, Texas.

In 2014, Deen and Clinton E. Blakey and Clifton D. Blakey, the owners of Blakey Auto Plex, were indicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on one count of federal program theft, conspiracy to commit federal program theft, and failure to file Internal Revenue Service Tax Form 8300. The three are accused of having undervalued a vehicle at $21,375 when it was traded in to Blakey Auto Plex by the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office in May 2012, a few weeks before Deen's retirement from the position.[15] On October 16, 2014, Deen through his attorney entered a not guilty plea to the charges of federal program theft and conspiracy to commit such theft. He is allowed to remain free while he awaits trial but had to surrender his passport. The Blakeys also pleaded not guilty to the same charges along with the failure to file IRS Tax Form 8300; they two must surrender their passports as they await trial.[16]

In November 2016, former Sheriff Deen was issued a summons for simple battery after a dispute at a Benton tire store with Don Martin Whittington (1935-2017), a former Benton town council member and Bossier Parish police juror and the father of Deen's successor as sheriff, Julian Whittington.[17] The argument between the two men allegedly surfaced in regard to Julian Whittington's involvement in a since dismissed federal corruption case which closed after a major witness died under questionable circumstances. Deen is accused of having approached the senior Whittington from the rear and grabbing him. The case could result in a restraining order against Deen which would forbid him from coming in contact with the Whittington family.[18]

See also

• Willie Waggonner, Bossier Parish sheriff from 1948 to 1976

References

1. "Click Larry Deen, September 1948". voterportal.sos.la.gov. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
2. "Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2016 (Bossier and Webster parishes)" (PDF). house.louisiana.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
3. "Jesse Claude Deen, July 2, 2003". archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
4. "My Bossier, March 1, 2011". mybossier.blogspot.com. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
5. "Results for Election Date: 10/24/1987 (Bossier Parish)". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
6. "Results for Election Date: 10/19/1991 (Bossier Parish)". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
7. "History of Northwest Law Enforcement Agency". rrdnw.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
8. "Drew Pierson, Bossier sheriff launches 'Operation Exodus', February 27, 2010". Shreveport Times. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
9. "Francis McCabe, "Bossier Sheriff caught speeding, admits its not the first time: Sheriff apologizes for how he behaved when stopped in east Texas in December," August 6, 2004". Shreveport Times. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
10. "Governor Bobby Jindal Announces Appointments to the Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, March 4, 2008". gov.louisiana.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
11. "Results for Election Date: 10/22/2011 (Bossier Parish)". stateicresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
12. "Carolyn Roy, "Whittington easily wins Bossier Sheriff's race," October 22, 2011". KSLA-TV. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
13. "Click Vol Dooley, January 1927". voterportal.sos.la.gov. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
14. "Bobbie Joe Deen". intelius.com. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
15. "Former Sheriff Larry Deen, 2 others indicted". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
16. "Ex-sheriff pleads not guilty to federal charges". Minden Press-Herald. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
17. "Don Whittington obituary". The Shreveport Times. February 26, 2017.
18. Matt Parker. "Former Bossier Parish Sheriff Facing Criminal Charges". KEEL Radio. Retrieved November 4, 2016.

Preceded by Vol Dooley	Sheriff of Bossier Parish, Louisiana Larry Callaway Deen 1988—2012	Succeeded by Julian Curtis Whittington