BATON ROUGE — A two-year-long hunting license scam involving fraudulent disabled veteran applications came to an end with the arrest of four individuals on Monday. The Ballard family—John Ballard Jr. and his sons Brian and Trevor—and Kara Meek, an employee at the Louisiana Office of Veteran Affairs, were arrested for allegedly falsifying public records to secure Disabled Veteran Hunting and Fishing Licenses.
The licenses, which are free for life and available only to military members or Louisiana National Guard members who are disabled, were issued to the Ballards despite none of them being disabled veterans. While Brian Ballard served in the Louisiana National Guard, he did not meet the criteria for a disabled veteran.
The scam was uncovered after an internal investigation by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) revealed that the Ballards had received the disabled veteran licenses. Regular lifetime hunting and fishing licenses in Louisiana cost $500 for state residents, but the fraudulent licenses were approved by Meek, a Veterans Service Officer from Bossier Parish.
John Ballard, a 49-year-old from Denham Springs, applied for the disabled veteran’s license in July 2022 and was approved. In June 2023, his sons Brian and Trevor followed suit and also received the fraudulent licenses. Meek, who knowingly processed the false applications, admitted to falsifying them intentionally.
The fraudulent licenses went undetected until December 26, 2024, when a compliance check by LDWF’s law enforcement division revealed their falsified nature. When confronted, the Ballards initially blamed the issue on a possible error in the LDWF’s licensing system.
The Ballards face one count each of filing false public records, while Meek has been charged with three counts of injuring public records. These offenses carry fines of up to $5,000 and up to five years in jail for each charge.
The arrests mark the end of a fraudulent scheme that misused public records and violated the integrity of the Louisiana licensing system.