Sheriff Wiley is a graduate of East Ascension High School and has a B.S. Degree from Southeastern Louisiana University. He has completed numerous law enforcement schools, including the Louisiana State University Juvenile Justice Institute and the United States Department of the Treasury Blue-Lighting Narcotics Enforcement training.

 

After enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1970, he began his law enforcement career while attending Advance Military Police Training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Sheriff Wiley is a graduate of numerous other military schools and was selected to attend the Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership School at Parris Island, South Carolina in 1972.

 

After beginning his career with the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Department in 1974 as a patrol officer, he was promoted to the Detective Division in 1975, where he specialized in Juvenile Justice. While serving in this capacity, in addition to investigating a wide range of criminal activity, Sheriff Wiley helped organize several key initiatives, such as the Junior Deputy Program and the Sheriff's Young Adult League. In 1980, he went to work for the Ascension Parish School Board as Coordinator of Student Services. While there, Sheriff Wiley helped initiate numerous innovative programs, such as the Substance Abuse Education Program and the placement of substance abuse counselors in the schools.

 

In 1988 he was summoned back to the Ascension Sheriff's Department when he was appointed Chief Criminal Deputy by Sheriff Harold Tridico, a position he held until he was elected Sheriff and took office July 1, 1996. During his tenure as Chief Criminal Deputy, he successfully helped guide the department through the unprecedented growth Ascension Parish has experienced and also spearheaded the creation of the department's first full-time Narcotics Division and the implementation of a comprehensive parish-wide Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program. The hallmark of Sheriff Wiley's first term as Sheriff was the successful passage and implementation of a 1/2 cent law enforcement proposition, which enabled him to increase the size of his patrol/traffic force by 40%, raise starting salaries, put more police cars on the street, and provide bullet-proof vests and modern standardized weapons for all officers. Sheriff Wiley's first term was so successful that in October of 1999, the citizens of Ascension Parish re-elected him with an astounding 83% of the vote.

 

Sheriff Wiley was named Outstanding Educator by the VFW in 1985, and was selected as the Outstanding Man of Gonzales by the Gonzales Jaycees in 1986. He is the son of Vi and the late Jack Wiley, and has been married for 27 years to his wife, Linda, the daughter of former Sheriff Hickley Waguespack and Elia Lebeau Waguespack. The Wiley's have two children: Sara, a school teacher; and Erin, a student at the L.S.U. School of Law.