BATON ROUGE - According to a Louisiana state investigative audit, former State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson used taxpayer money to provide luxuries for himself and his family, possibly illegally. 

According to an early copy of  the audit obtained by the Advocate, Edmonson allegedly used his position to live rent-free at a Department of Public Safety compound for the past nine years. This benefit was reportedly estimated to be worth $423,720. Edmonson failed to report it as a taxable benefit to the IRS. 

The auditor also found that DPS paid for the compound's bills for electricity, cable TV, Internet service and flowers at Edmonson's request from Dec. 23, 2013, to Feb. 27, 2017. Those bills totaled $19,330.

Along with these claims, a trooper told auditors he had to drive Edmonson’s wife, mother-in-law and one of his friends to and from a Bob Seger concert in Lafayette in a state vehicle. Other troopers say they regularly drove Mrs. Edmonson to other places around the state. 

According to the report, Edmonson also collected $6,344 in dry-cleaning allowances between Jan. 1, 2014, and March 26, 2017

The allegations came a day after an investigative report into a sightseeing trip four State Troopers took on their way to a conference in San Diego that alleged Edmonson deleted text messages from one of the four troopers’ phones. 

State Police said in a statement issued Friday afternoon the agency continues "to cooperate with the Legislative Auditor’s office. The department is currently formulating our response to the findings and recommendations of the audit.  That response will be included in the final report and disseminated by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor."

You can see the Advocate's full report by clicking HERE.