CLINTON -A grand jury has indicted former East Feliciana School Board member Edward Brooks Jr. on charges of payroll fraud Tuesday. 

Brooks is accused of failing to attend multiple school board meetings and continuing to collect pay as a fully-functioning member of the board. Records indicate that Brooks Jr. missed 2 of 8 School Board meetings in 2016, 10 of 12 meetings in 2017, 10 of 14 meetings in 2018, and 10 of 13 meetings in 2019.

Despite these many absences, audit reports show he was paid $18,450 from July 2016 through June 30, 2019.

>Click here for WBRZ's original story, detailing the seeming discrepancies in Brooks Jr's pay and attendance records<

In an interview with WBRZ's Brandi B. Harris, Brooks openly admitted to missing multiple meetings.

"I'm not disputing the fact that my life did not allow me to (attend meetings). So, that's not what I'm arguing about. That's fact. That's in the record. It's there," Brooks said. "Being on the road, I didn't do it. That's why I said, I need to go ahead and resign. So, to keep coming at me with that angle is a waste of time. I'm not arguing that." 

He submitted a resignation letter to the school board in August, stating that family obligations and other responsibilities hadn't allowed him to attend meetings regularly.

He also insinuated that he wasn't invested in this particular aspect of his role as a school board member. 

"I can't even say that I put forth a lot of effort," Brooks Jr. explained, "because this is a the problem that I had: even the meetings that I did attend, they didn't do anything for the kids."

Brooks was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon and booked into the East Feliciana Parish jail at 4:20 p.m. He was bailed out in less than 30 minutes, according to booking records.