BATON ROUGE — The arrest of the former chief administrative officer of the Capital Area Transportation System came after federal agents began looking into bribery allegations, according to newly obtained court documents.

Pearlina Thomas, CATS' former CAO, was indicted for criminal conspiracy, theft over $25,000, prohibited use of public funds, and malfeasance in office. Jarion "Jay" Colar was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for criminal conspiracy and theft over $25,000.

According to the arrest warrants, Thomas approved a $50,000 contract to Jay Colar's company, Supreme Solutions Consulting, without following the proper approval process. In addition, investigators say they found no evidence that the work Colar was contracted to do was performed, but they also uncovered that the work that was turned in was fraudulent and copied from a report written by a transportation expert in Canada.

The indictments also reference an unnamed co-conspirator, referred to as "C.D.," that WBRZ has learned is Baton Rouge Metro Council member Cleve Dunn Jr. He has not been named in the arrest warrants.

How this started:
This investigation began in December of 2021 when agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation received a request from the FBI to look into allegations of public officials who allegedly accepted bribes and misused their positions at CATS to receive government funding.

Court documents show Colar and Thomas met for the first time in 2021 with an unnamed person at a Baton Rouge restaurant. A short time later, Thomas hired Colar as a CATS contractor. Colar would send three invoices, two of which were approved by Thomas. The third payment was approved by "F.J." since Thomas separated from CATS before the last payment was made.

After the checks were issued, they were immediately withdrawn. For the first two checks, 10% of the funds were reissued to Colar; the other 90% was issued to a company named "C.G." in the affidavit. Colar reportedly told the FBI that he subcontracted some of the work to another company, but did not have any proof to verify the claim. In addition, a clause in the contract with CATS says work cannot be subcontracted without permission. As for the last check, in February of 2022, that payment was withdrawn as cash immediately after being deposited.

Investigation into Colar:
According to FBI records, Colar provided information about the communication he had with Thomas following a federal grand jury subpoena. However, agents said a key conversation between the two was missing, specifically a text exchange that indicated Thomas would circumvent the procurement process around CATS' CEO.

The text, sent in August of 2021, reportedly read, "He does not know anything about the invoice. That's something I'm working around him. I just need him to sign it so we can move on."

Agents also say Colar left out key financial records they requested from him, which they were able to independently get, showing deposits made to his company, Supreme Solutions.

Finally, agents were told by Colar that he wrote a funding analysis report for CATS, which was part of Supreme Solutions' contract. However, agents found the report was similar to one written by a Canadian academic who specializes in transit policy. When questioned, Colar reportedly admitted he copied the report.

Investigation into Thomas:
Thomas was interviewed by agents in December 2023. They say she gave conflicting answers about the purpose of Supreme Solutions' contracts, but suggested the main purpose was to assist with the CATS tax renewal proposal.

When she was questioned over the plagiarized report provided to CATS by Colar, agents say Thomas became evasive and wouldn't admit the report didn't fulfill Supreme's contractual obligation.

Other CATS employees were interviewed as well, who said Thomas did not follow the proper procedure regarding the contract with Colar. They said she should have taken the contract to the department head, then to procurement, before going to the CFO, CAO, and CEO in that order. Supreme's contract did not go through those steps.

FBI agents summarized that Thomas and Colar conspired to obtain the CATS contract fraudulently by:
- Meeting before executing a contract, suggesting Thomas solicited Colar for the awarding of the contract.
- Providing a fraudulent/plagiarized report as the only evidence of work, with a majority of the funding proposals not even applicable to the Baton Rouge area.
- Not vetting or reviewing the work for accuracy. (Agents said Colar told them he doubted anyone at CATS even read the report because the millage passed, so they didn't need to use it.)