A 52-year-old Louisiana woman has filed a federal lawsuit accusing leaders in the tiny town of Golden Meadow of orchestrating her arrest after she posted lingerie photos from another woman’s OnlyFans account to Facebook, an act her attorney says is not a crime under state law.

Dawn Pierce, a Lafourche Parish resident and customer service agent, was arrested at her home on July 8 after Golden Meadow Mayor Joey Bouziga allegedly pressured newly elected Police Chief Michelle Lafont to take action over an online feud, according to the lawsuit.

A Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy assisted in the arrest, and Pierce posted a $10,000 bond later that evening. The District Attorney’s office dropped the charges one month later.

Pierce’s suit, filed in October against Bouziga, Lafont, the Town of Golden Meadow, and Police Officer Tristin Gaspard, alleges false arrest, conspiracy, and abuse of power. She claims officials violated her civil rights after she became involved in a social media quarrel with the fiancée of her nephew and a former co-worker of the mayor.

The dispute escalated after Pierce and the woman traded insults on Facebook. Pierce then uploaded publicly visible lingerie images from the woman’s OnlyFans account. Her attorney argues the images do not depict sexual conduct or genitalia and were already accessible on the creator’s homepage without a subscription, placing them outside the scope of Louisiana’s obscenity laws.

The lawsuit states that Chief Lafont initially expressed confusion over how such behavior could constitute a criminal offense. In text messages cited in the filings, Lafont reportedly told Officer Gaspard she “didn’t know if there was anything I could charge (Pierce) with,” later adding, “This is ridiculous!!!!”

Despite that hesitation, the lawsuit alleges that Bouziga intervened after Pierce’s nephew contacted him. One text included in the court record shows the nephew telling Pierce, “I’ve been talking to Joey… we got something cooking.” Shortly afterward, Lafont sought a warrant for Pierce’s arrest, which the suit claims included false statements made under oath.

Pierce’s attorney, Hope Phelps of New Orleans-based Most & Associates, argues that officials ignored lawful alternatives, such as declining to pursue charges or mediating the dispute. Instead, she writes, they “chose the most extreme, outrageous, and unlawful action to arrest and imprison Mrs. Pierce falsely.”

Golden Meadow, a town of roughly 1,600 residents at the southern tip of Lafourche Parish, has long carried a reputation for turmoil within its police department. The community is often known to travelers as a speed trap on the route to Grand Isle and the Gulf of Mexico.

In recent years, the department has faced a series of controversies, including the August arrest of former Police Chief Troy Dufrene, who authorities say systematically deleted department records after losing his reelection bid to Lafont by nine votes. His predecessor resigned after the town settled a federal excessive force lawsuit.

This newest case revives questions about political influence in local law enforcement. The lawsuit portrays a mayor wielding outsized power over a small, five-person police force and alleges that Lafont, a former middle school teacher with limited law enforcement experience, ceded to his demands despite earlier objections.

Officials named in the lawsuit have declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The attorney representing Bouziga, Lafont, and Gaspard has not yet filed a response in federal court.

For now, Pierce is seeking damages and a formal declaration that her arrest violated her constitutional rights, arguing that a personal dispute was turned into a criminal matter through political pressure inside one of Louisiana’s smallest and most scrutinized police departments.