Deputy Accused In Church Child-Sex Ring

[Casshew]

A Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy has been accused of rape in connection with an alleged child-sex ring that involved church members and animals.

Christopher Blair Labat, of Hammond, was arrested Tuesday following a month-long investigation by deputies and the FBI, according to sheriff's spokesman Chuck Reed. He was booked on one count of aggravated rape and jailed without bond.

The investigation began with a call from a woman in Columbus, Ohio, who told police she fled Louisiana in fear for her child, according to juvenile investigator Reginald Bryant.
The arrest was made in conjunction with the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office following Monday's arrest of Louis Lamonica, who was booked with two counts of aggravated rape and a charge of crime against nature.

http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4503368/detail.html

[golfmom]

http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4507699/detail.html

"One time, I had to return something to (Lamonica)," Norman said. "I walked up to the door and heard his wife screaming. She was a Eucharistic minister, too, and I heard her say, 'I'm going to whip the sins right out of this guy.' She was screaming at the top of her lungs. Man, I turned right back around. I had goose pimples. I told my wife they're doing an exorcism. It was like 'Poltergeist' or something."

The allegations against Lamonica and Labat include charges that cats and dogs were used in their alleged crimes, investigators said.

"There were a bunch of animals down by the creek," Norman said. "They weren't cut up or anything, but they were all crippled up. One of them, a Jack Russell terrier, was just lying on the property. He died the next day of internal injuries."

[mysteriew]

Hey Cass, did you know that this was posted yesterday in the thread about the pastor? Same story.

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23672

[golfmom]

http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4503827/detail.html

PONCHATOULA, La. -- Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputies made a third arrest Wednesday in the ongoing investigation of a case involving allegations of sexual abuse of children and animals at a Ponchatoula church.

Austin Aaron Bernard III, 36, of SW Railroad Avenue, in Hammond, was arrested on a charge of aggravated rape of a child under the age of 13.

Police said Bernard confessed to detectives that he had sex with a young girl in November 2002 and admitted to knowing about alleged sexual acts involving children, dogs and cats that occurred at Hosanna Church, where he was a member.

[1986]

Just when I think I've heard the worst...someone tops it. What is this world coming to?

[golfmom]

Hey Cass, did you know that this was posted yesterday in the thread about the pastor? Same story.

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23672

I missed it too.

[Casshew]

I didn't realize I had duplicated :(

[mysteriew]

But lawyers for the nine codefendants, ages 24 to 55, say that, not only are their clients innocent but they are the victims of a brainwashing scheme.

"There is absolutely no evidence, medical or otherwise, to suggest that there is any truth to these allegations," said A. Wayne Smith, lawyer for codefendant Allen Pierson, who pleaded not guilty in June to four counts of aggravated rape of a child under 13.

"It appears that one of the leaders of the church exercised a tremendous influence over its congregants to the point of making them say they did things that they never did," Smith said.

In a twist, he was not referring to Lamonica, who inherited the once large parish after his father's death, but to another parishioner, Lois Mowbray, who was charged with obstruction of justice and failing to report a crime after the fact.

In particular, Smith cited Mowbray's 586-page journal in which she allegedly had other parishioners write out their confessions to the sex acts.

The journal's contents were not detailed in a June grand jury proceeding, but a detective described Mowbray as the church's pastor and suggested there had been infighting among the congregation, whose membership had eroded to about 15 members before its doors were permanently shut in 2003.

Lamonica was booked on the spot for child rape and crimes against nature following his alleged admission to repeated sex acts involving house pets and children. Police say he claimed to have orchestrated the acts and taught the child victims how to mimic them.

"Naturally, we found it strange for someone to confess to anything without being asked, but he came in and admitted to some sexual acts with persons under age and to sex with animals," said Livingston Parish Detective Supervisor Stan Carpenter. "We couldn't very well let him go, and from there everything came to a domino effect."

Even so, the substance and credibility of Lamonica's statements remains under scrutiny almost three months later as the case enters the pretrial phase, in which the state shares its evidence with defense lawyers and the court.
http://www.courttv.com/trials/news/0705/29_bernard_ctv.html