CENTRAL - Prominent Baton Rouge defense attorney Lewis Unglesby alleges his client, former Central Police Lt. Huey Haley, was unjustly targeted.

"The charges in Central against my client Huey Haley are ill-founded," Unglesby said. "We don't agree that he did anything improper whatsoever."

Haley was arrested at the end of October for allegedly falsifying pay records over a year. According to the arrest warrant, Haley reported nearly 350 hours he did not work and took home an extra $7,600 for it.

Unglesby says Haley was working those hours and claims he can prove it in court, but declined to provide us with any additional information.

"If he put 'em down, he worked them."

Unglesby says the only reason this happened is because Haley had ambitions to run for police chief against Roger Corcoran in the next election.

"I don't think he had a problem with Corcoran, but I think he had ambitions to eventually take Corcoran's job."

Corcoran denies the allegations and says he was shocked to find the discrepancies in Haley's time cards. He had recently promoted Haley to lieutenant.

"The arrest warrant issued for former Central Police Department Lieutenant, Huey Haley, speaks for itself. That warrant was the result of weeks of thorough investigation, and its conclusions were based upon paper and digital records, which also speak for themselves. Any allegation made by Mr. Haley or his lawyer will be resolved in court. I wish him well as he proceeds through that process. Because the investigation has now been referred to District Attorney Hillar Moore, any further statement should come from his office," Corcoran said in a statement.

Haley, who also works full-time at Dixon Correctional, was placed on suspension until this week and, according to Unglesby, has returned to work there.

Unglesby had taken a break from criminal cases, having last defended former Ascension Parish president Kenny Matassa in 2018. He says he felt called to take on Haley's case.