BATON ROUGE - Following East Baton Rouge Metro Councilman Cleve Dunn's indictment, groups across the capital area have been sharing their reaction.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1546, which represents employees of the Capital Area Transit System, says that allegations of corruption and the subsequent indictments come as no surprise.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. We've been sounding the alarm on this for the past five or six years," ATU Local 1546 President George DeCuir said.

Since 2020, the ATU has been pressing for accountability at the transit system.

"We went to the Metro Council, we went to the Mayor's Office, and now things are just coming to fruition, so all you have to do is follow the funds, continue the investigation, and it will lead to probably more indictments," DeCuir said.

The union says the charges show the pattern of mismanagement and lack of oversight by the transit system and its contracts.

"I can't state the specifics on the Metro Council, it's just not surprising to the Union that there are elected officials that are involved with this matter," DeCuir said.

WBRZ also spoke to Longman Jakuback Senior Associate Attorney Richard Sprinkle in Baton Rouge about Dunn's indictment. Sprinkle also said he was not surprised.

"It's not entirely surprising given the investigation that's going on, given the fact he was named an unindicted co-conspirator, it's not surprising at all, especially given his connections to these companies that may have been part of the moving around of money," Sprinkle said.

Dunn was indicted on two counts each of bribery and money laundering, public contract fraud, illegal split commission of commodities, and malfeasance in office.

"I have a feeling the AG's office is gonna do a very thorough job investigating this, and if there is anything else that needs to be uncovered, they are gonna do it," Sprinkle said.

Sprinkle also discussed what the penalties for those types of charges could be.

"They range anywhere from probation up to 20 years in jail, which is the harshest one, there's a few in there that go up to 10 years, like Malfeseance in office, for example, which caps out around 10 years, but there are pretty stiff penalties. These are all felonies. They carry a lot of harsh penalties. If convicted, he is facing some serious jail time," Sprinkle said.

According to court minutes, an arrest warrant will be issued for Dunn. The Attorney General's Office expects additional indictments based upon the ongoing grand jury investigation.