Woman Connected To NOLA Death Faces New Accusations

A Louisiana woman tied to the death of a Telemundo Super Bowl reporter has been accused by other men of drugging and robbing them, with Louisiana’s top prosecutor asserting she should not have been on probation at the time of the reporter’s death last month.

Danette Colbert, 48, was convicted in October of computer fraud, theft, and illegal transmission of monetary funds stemming from a November 2021 scheme targeting David Butler’s life savings. Butler, in court documents and an NBC News interview, claimed Colbert drugged him and stole over $80,000 in cryptocurrency in New Orleans’ French Quarter, leaving him for dead. No drug tests were conducted, and no charges related to the drugging were pursued.

Colbert received five years of probation last fall and was ordered to pay Butler $50,000 in restitution, according to court records. However, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office is now pushing to revoke that probation and seek a tougher penalty, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Monday. Murrill argued that Colbert, labeled a “habitual offender” due to her criminal history, was ineligible for probation at sentencing—a status that allows prosecutors to pursue harsher punishments in Louisiana.

Colbert

Jefferson Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, in a separate statement, said he sought Murrill’s assistance because Colbert’s alleged crimes cross multiple jurisdictions. “This collaborative effort will ensure a unified and effective prosecution of these serious cases,” Williams stated.

Colbert’s attorney has not yet responded to requests for comment. Last month, a lawyer from a separate case defended her, arguing she shouldn’t be defined solely by her past convictions. A spokesperson for the judge who issued the November sentence declined to comment, pointing NBC News to Butler’s victim impact statement, in which he criticized Colbert’s “continued disregard for others” and called for the maximum prison term.

Court records reveal Colbert’s prior guilty pleas in two Jefferson Parish cases involving similar fraud and theft allegations before her October conviction. While awaiting trial in Butler’s case, she faced charges in Clark County, Nevada, for grand larceny and administering a drug to aid a felony in two incidents. Those charges were dropped, attorney Daniel Lippmann told The Associated Press, after victims declined to testify.

Two additional men told NBC News they believe Colbert targeted them in October 2021, posing as an Uber driver in the French Quarter to drug and rob them. Police reports and a New Orleans police spokesperson confirm the men reported the incidents, but no charges have been filed, and no suspect has been identified. The New Orleans Police Department maintains it investigates all reported cases thoroughly.