A Lafayette man was arrested Wednesday for violating state campaign ethics law during the recent election for the state Senate District 23 seat won by Brach Myers.
Chun Ping "Eddie" Lau, 47, of Lafayette, was charged with violating a Louisiana law that prohibits distributing information in a campaign that one knows is false.
Louisiana Revised Statute 18:1463C(1) states, "No person shall cause to be distributed, or transmitted, any oral, visual, digital, or written material containing any statement which he knows or should be reasonably expected to know makes a false statement about a candidate for election in a primary or general election or about a proposition to be submitted to the voters."
The crime is a felony.
Myers said the day after he defeated Jesse Regan, a Broussard councilman, that he had filed a complaint with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office about someone distributing during the campaign information that he was endorsed by the Lady Democrats of Lafayette group. Myers and Regan both are Republicans and the Lady Democrats group no longer exists.
Myers said his polling numbers dropped after the allegation was made.
Regan told The Acadiana Advocate days after the election that neither he nor his campaign had anything to do with the fake campaign information and he hoped the culprit would be brought to justice.
Lau is listed by the Louisiana Secretary of State Office as the owner or partner in several businesses, including RM Partners on Camellia Boulevard in Lafayette, which was paid $4,000 by Regan's campaign in January for video production, according to Regan's Feb. 5 campaign finance report.
The arrest was made Thursday as a result of a cyber investigation led by Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division in conjunction with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Investigation.
With information uncovered by detectives during the investigation, law enforcement officials obtained search warrants for Lau's residence and business.
During a search, detectives seized various electronic devices for processing and evidence gathering, a Sheriff's Office news release states.Â
Lau was taken into custody Wednesday and booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center. Bond was set at $2,500.
The case remains under investigation as forensic examination continues both digitally and on the devices seized by law enforcement.
