A Louisiana man is accused of pulling off a low-tech jailbreak with nothing more than a phone and a convincing story. Investigators say 42-year-old Adrian James St. Romain called the Calcasieu Correctional Center in Lake Charles in April, pretended to be a local judge, and got an inmate’s bond changed to “released on recognizance.” The ruse worked, and the inmate walked free. That, authorities say, was just the start.
According to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Romain phoned the jail on April 16 posing as a judge and successfully reduced the bond for 46-year-old Demond Lynn Delahoussaye Sr., who was facing an aggravated burglary charge. Delahoussaye was released in June based on that bogus bond adjustment.
Louisiana Man Pretends to be a Judge to Get an Inmate Released From Prison, But That’s Not All… https://t.co/Lg43ujM9kH pic.twitter.com/vXyCy6bfui
— The Root (@TheRoot) September 12, 2025
The scheme didn’t unravel until Delahoussaye showed up for a court hearing on July 17. That’s when officials say they realized the earlier release had been granted under false pretenses. He was immediately re-arrested and booked back into the Calcasieu Correctional Center.
Detectives also say St. Romain doubled down, calling the jail two more times in July while again impersonating a judge in an attempt to set another fraudulent bond for the same inmate. Those follow-ups failed, but they kicked off a deeper investigation into the suspicious calls.
By this week, deputies say they had their man. With help from the U.S. Marshals Service, St. Romain was picked up on Tuesday, Sept. 9, on an unrelated warrant, then booked on a stack of fresh charges tied to the alleged bond-change caper. As of Wednesday, Sept. 10, officials said his bond had not yet been set.
‘Impersonating local judges’: Man fools jail workers into thinking he’s a judge, gets inmate out by changing his bond, authorities say https://t.co/GAaX6Yeyux
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) September 11, 2025
The charges are eye-catchers: attempted simple escape, assisting escape, injuring public records, and false impersonation. The sheriff’s office says detectives used “multiple law enforcement tools and techniques to connect the dots” during the probe. Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Stitch Guillory added that the incident was “an honest error that occurred due to lack of training,” and said the agency has “already made changes to ensure this type of situation does not happen again.”
How did a phony phone-in from a fake judge even get this far? Authorities say it’s not unheard of for real judges to call in bond reductions, but there are protocols that must be followed — and, clearly, something went wrong. The sheriff’s office declined to spell out the exact process for security reasons.
What remains murky is the tie between the two men. Officials haven’t said how, or even if, St. Romain and Delahoussaye know each other. What is clear: Delahoussaye’s case is very real. Local records show he was previously listed on arrest reports in July on the aggravated burglary count, a charge that ultimately intersected with the alleged impersonation plot.
The whole saga reads like a heist movie built around a speakerphone, but the fallout is serious. A man accused of playing judge now faces multiple felonies, a once-freed inmate is back behind bars, and a sheriff’s office is tightening its safeguards after a hard lesson in how far a confident voice can carry. The investigation is ongoing.
