Two present, one former Eunice Police Officer indicted

Three men who at one time all worked for the Eunice Police Department were arrested Wednesday accused of malfeasance in office for allegedly beating two men while in police custody.

A St. Landry Parish grand jury handed down the indictments. The three men were all Eunice police officers earlier this year. One still works for Eunice PD, one has since resigned, and another has transferred to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Department. The malfeasance in office charges stem from two separate incidents.

Jeremy Ivory and Micah Arceneaux were charged with simple battery from an incident in January where Ivory allegedly struck a man in custody, and Arceneaux allegedly kicked the same person.

Then in April, Arceneaux again is charged, this time for aggravated battery upon a man in custody for allegedly striking him with a dangerous weapon. William McCauley Jr. is charged with the same crime in that incident. All three men surrendered Wednesday to the sheriff’s department.

McCauley actually was hired by the St Landry Parish Sheriff’s Department as a deputy while under investigation, and St Landry Sheriff Bobby Guidroz is upset to say the least that he didn’t know about the ongoing investigation into McCauley.

“Someone in the Eunice Police Department should’ve told the sheriff that you’re about to hire a guy who is under investigation. We would’ve put the brakes on, waited until it was over before we hired him. We didn’t know, and I think that’s wrong” said Sheriff Guidroz.