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This wasn’t a very Saintly act.
Rita LeBlanc, the one-time heir apparent for the Saints and granddaughter of late team owner Tom Benson, was arrested Monday for allegedly pushing a parking enforcement officer in Charleston, S.C., according to live5news.com.
The 48-year-old is reportedly being charged with hindering an officer/city employee, and she was released Tuesday on a personal recognizance bond.
Sgt. Chris Stinson told the outlet that LeBlanc grabbed a parking boot locking mechanism while an officer attempted to place it on a vehicle.
Officers reportedly had been summoned to the scene due to a parking enforcement officer being shoved.
A court date is scheduled for July 24, per nola.com.
LeBlanc served as the Saints’ vice chairman from 2012-14 and had been in position to be the eventual owner of the team.
Things took a turn when Benson fired her in December 2014 while also “cutting off any future contact,” Nola.com reported at the time.
LeBlanc reportedly grabbed Benson’s wife — and current Saints owner — Gayle Benson at a home game that December against the Falcons.
Two sources told nola.com that LeBlanc had been the “aggressor” and she allegedly grabbed Gayle by her shoulders and shook her repeatedly in a family suite.
Tom then announced in January 2015 that Gayle would be the sole successor.
The situation turned ugly, with a lawsuit being field by LeBlanc, her brother, Ryan, and mother, Renee, in which they hoped to have deemed mentally incompetent, per nola.com.
The parties settled the lawsuit in 2016.
“No matter what happens in the litigation,” LeBlanc told Sports Business Daily in 2016, “I’ll still be a partial owner.”
She added: “I wouldn’t say I’m happy. I’m fulfilled. I don’t have a private life. There’s miserable things in the press and miserable things that aren’t being reported. No family should have to go through this.”
The Saints are coming off a disastrous 5-12 campaign — their worst mark since 2003 — and quarterback Derek Carr shockingly retired earlier this season.
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