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More details to be released Tuesday about West Baton Rouge deputy arrests

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PORT ALLEN - Details surrounding what led to the arrests of two deputies with possibly more arrests coming will be revealed during a news conference Tuesday at the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.

On Thursday, the WBRZ Investigative Unit learned two deputies were arrested after an audit found some issues with the department's work release program, according to a spokesman. The audit came in the wake of repeated escapes.

A search of WBRZ archives shows this has been a problem for years. In 2016, it caught the attention of state auditors where 22 escapes were logged between a two-year period, which was the most in the state.

Following that audit, Sheriff Mike Cazes promised changes during another one of the escapes.

"I stressed very seriously you have to touch bodies, flesh," Cazes told WBRZ. "That's the only way to do a security check. These guys are criminals. They are masterminds on how to prevent things and how to do things."

Following the audit that showed West Baton Rouge had the most escapes, WBRZ continued reporting on escapes that plagued the work release program. At least two high-profile escapes resulted in a carjacking, robbery and one of the inmates threatening to kill a victim. Another escape left a victim battered after an inmate threw her into a wall and threatened to kill her with a kitchen knife.

The West Baton Rouge Parish has not yet said how far their probe went into the escapes, and the sheriff's office has not named the deputies who were arrested.

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