LA - Pastor and wife busted in child sex ring...

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Linda7NJ said:
I agree, but I think from a prosecution standpoint I'd leave it in for those jury members that may not have children but do have pets.
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I think you are right. And isn't that sad, that some people have more sympathy for an animal than for a child?
 
Yeah--but the puppets and costumes had tested positive for semen and other bodily fluids, which doesn;t look good.
And the beastiality charges being dropped down't mean they didn't have evidence--it's just that beastiality is a misdemeanor charge and not worth filing in light of the other evidence. It also detracts from the actual crimes against children.
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Can you find a link to support these statements?

I don't think the costumes tested postive for anything incriminating.

I doubt there was ever any evidence found of bestiality and therefore no way to prosecute the charge.
 
AMITE, La. (AP) -- Jailed former Tangipahoa Parish deputy Chris Labat has been booked on 24 additional counts related to the child and animal sex abuse scandal at the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, a sheriff's spokeswoman said Monday.

The new counts pertain to *advertiser censored* involving juveniles and were levied Friday night after agents with the FBI and Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's department searched computers seized at Labat's residence, spokeswoman Laura Covington said.
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Labat is the only one who was charged with possession of child *advertiser censored* on his personal computer and laptop. Apparently the other computers seized did not contain anything of evidence against any of the others.
 
LovelyPigeon said:
Can you find a link to support these statements?

I don't think the costumes tested postive for anything incriminating.

I doubt there was ever any evidence found of bestiality and therefore no way to prosecute the charge.
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There were some fairly indepth online artilces re the case from Louisiana news sources, but they disappeared after Katrina and have not reappeared.

I do remember seeing a picture of what looked like a considerable number of small animal carcasses both scattered & piled up behind what used to be a church (which looked more like a cinderblock mechanic's garage, which is what it used to be), but they had been there for some time, from the looks of it.
 
I did email a reporter on this case, and received back from her that the case is presently in discovery phase, and since there are 7 different defense attorneys there is a lengthy process. The hurricanes have also stretched some budgets and made some venues impossible, so things have been slowed down.
 
LovelyPigeon said:
I did email a reporter on this case, and received back from her that the case is presently in discovery phase, and since there are 7 different defense attorneys there is a lengthy process. The hurricanes have also stretched some budgets and made some venues impossible, so things have been slowed down.
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But we can hope that this won't be obscured. These children deserve every break possible.
 
Obscured? no one is talking obscured! the case is not on hold at all...it's in process.

That doesn't mean that I believe that the charges are valid, but I'm waiting to see what the evidence is.
 
Well, as usual your opinion is the most valid. Sorry for discussing it and I won't make the mistake again.
 
Suit yourself.

There have been several "child sex rings" investigated and prosecuted over the past 20 years. I think most have been overturned, when there were convictions. In general, investigations crossed the line during interviews with children suspected to have been abused. I hope that is the same with this case--that no children were actually sexually abused.
 
I noted in the original article posted that no offender names were mentioned, except the name of the church. I found that pretty unusual.
Later articles do give names, charges were filed and then dropped. I do see signs of this being a case which might be in danger of being dropped or really downplayed. Looks like they might proceed against the deputy, the pastor's charges are iffy, and I haven't seen anything about what is happening to the woman from Ohio who made the original report, then was charged along with her husband.
 
mysteriew, there are currently 7 people charged with various counts of aggravated rape, according to the email I received from a reporter.
 
I still wonder if this won't turn out to be one of many failed *satanic child abuse* cases. I sure it turns out that way, and that no child was actually abused by the 9 still facing charges (8 are out of jail on bond, 1 remains in jail, and 2 of those 9 aren't expected to be taken to trial)

Hosanna may reach trial in ’06

By DEBRA LEMOINE
Florida parishes bureau
Published: Mar 5, 2006

AMITE — Prosecutors literally have a truckload of potential evidence to sift through, an unusual set of circumstances to explain to a jury, and far fewer witnesses than they once expected in the case against the members of the defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula.--->>

Now that the cases against the pastor and eight other members of the Hosanna Church are in the hands of the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the investigation has become less about the occult and more about criminal charges of child abuse.

Material confiscated by investigators in the cases includes such varied items as computers and a crossbow, but prosecutors are still trying to determine which of the countless items will be used as evidence and which ones point to the defendants’ innocence and must be turned over to defense attorneys.

District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said he’s pleased to find that the cases appear to involve far fewer victims than law enforcement officials feared last spring when they began a two-month investigation that led to nine arrests.

Initially, law enforcement authorities talked of possibly 100 victims, but the number of victims identified turns out to be three, Perrilloux said. --->>

Wall doesn’t discount the details that law enforcement officials discussed with the news media during the investigation last year. No physical evidence of the pentagrams or animal sacrifices mentioned by investigators were found. The only indication of the occult comes from statements allegedly made by the suspects.

As the investigation progressed, law enforcement authorities initially said that there could be hundreds of victims and later narrowed their estimates to 20. Only three victims, two boys and one girl, are part of the criminal case as it stands.

Wall said that there could be other victims out there, but the potential victims contacted by investigators denied any abuse.--->>

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2408591.html
 
I would imagine they were instructed not to speak. It has that certain ring to it that I have heard so many times.
 
teedie2 said:
More often, they are NOT.

If I said "I am a banana" and dressed in banana peels and hung from a tree, would that make me a real banana? No, I would be pretending to be a banana, for whatever nefarious purpose I might have, maybe to cover up the fact that I am, in actuality, an orange!

:D
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t6tgdj.gif
 
LovelyPigeon said:
I still wonder if this won't turn out to be one of many failed *satanic child abuse* cases. I sure it turns out that way, and that no child was actually abused by the 9 still facing charges (8 are out of jail on bond, 1 remains in jail, and 2 of those 9 aren't expected to be taken to trial)
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Since there were computer files chockablock with kiddie *advertiser censored* re some of those involved, I suspect there was something extremley hinky going on in that weird little church in Tangipahoa Parish.

If you think this is weird, you should have read about the Nuwabian (sp?) religious cult leader who was found guilty of 100s of counts of child molestation in Georgia.
 
Unless there's a plea worked out, it will be another 9 months minimum before the first case goes to trial.

1st trial in Ponchatoula church rape case: August 2007
11/16/2006
The Associated Press

AMITE, La. (AP) — The first case accusing members of a Ponchatoula church of raping children will be tried next August, more than two years after they were arrested.

Austin "Trey" Bernard III, 38, of Hammond, has accused people charged with him — and his ex-wife, who wasn't indicted — of participating in a satanic ritual, according to a Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office report turned over to the defense Wednesday.

Investigators have said they did not find any evidence of such rites at Hosanna Church, which has since been closed, or at the suspects' homes.--->>

District Judge Doug Hughes scheduled an Aug. 27 trial in Amite for Bernard, who is charged on two counts of aggravated rape.--->>

Assistant District Attorney Don Wall, the lead prosecutor, said after the hearing that he is still going through everything from computers to furniture stored in a large freight trailer at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office.

He gave Bensabet a report from Sheriff's Detective Michael DePhillips about an interview with Bernard on May 19, 2005. The interview was videotaped, but neither the tape nor its transcript has been turned over to defense.

According to the report, Bernard already had confessed. In the interview, it said, he alleged that his ex-wife and the minister's estranged wife, Robbin Lamonica, 47, of Hammond, sprinkled a girl with blood to offer her to Satan; then each person there raped the child.

He also alleged that Robbin and the former pastor, Louis Lamonica, 47, of Hammond, had sex with a different girl in their home.--->> http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louis...ws-28/116368978337460.xml&storylist=louisiana
 
Wonder why it is taking so long to go to trial? Obviously, they have probable cause. It certainly does seem that it is a wingnut overload.
 
I think physical damages of Katrina probably had some effect on delaying this trial, but I also think the dearth of evidence is problematic for prosecution.

The original hubub about a "child sex ring" and satanic rites gave way in the wake of actual investigation.
 
1st trial now scheduled for November:

Defense: Witnesses recant
Hosanna Church child-rape allegations called into question

By DEBRA LEMOINE
Advocate Florida parishes bureau

AMITE — Two of the three witnesses in the child-rape cases against seven members of the former Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula are now saying they were not abused, defense attorneys said.

The three — two boys and one girl — formed the center of the investigation by the Tangipahoa and Livingston Parish sheriff’s offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ponchatoula Police Department in the spring 2005 into allegations that members of a now-defunct church sexually abused children as part of occult rituals.

The children’s statements made to forensic interviewers with Child Advocacy Services based in Hammond were part of the evidence that led to the arrests of nine members of the Hosanna Church and indictments against seven. Two of those arrested were not formally charged by the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

But when the boys, now ages 21 and 17, take the stand during the upcoming trials, they will testify that they were not sexually abused and were coerced into making statements against the accused, defense attorneys said. --->>

Public defender Reggie McIntyre and defense attorney Wayne Stewart, representing Paul Fontenot, 23, of Ponchatoula and Al Pierson, 48, of Hammond, respectively, also said they have heard that they boys have recanted. --->>

However, the other victim, a girl now age 7, maintains she was sexually abused, the prosecution and her mother said.

The girl who allegedly was abused starting as an infant until age 3 is not expected to testify because of her age during the alleged abuse, said Assistant District Attorney Don Wall, who is prosecuting the case for the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Wall said he has not spoken to the boys, but he said he has heard that they may have recanted. --->>

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9166082.html?showAll=y&c=y
 
7-year-old’s testimony at issue
By DEBRA LEMOINE
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Nov 8, 2007 - Page: 1B

AMITE — Whether a 7-year-old girl listed as a victim in the Hosanna Church sex-abuse case is a credible witness should be addressed during the trial and not by the court beforehand, a prosecutor argued in 21st Judicial District Court Wednesday.

State District Judge Doug Hughes was expected to hear testimony Wednesday from two experts on whether a girl who was 2 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, but who is now 7, should testify at the upcoming trial of Austin “Trey” Bernard III, 39, of Hammond.

Bernard is one of the seven members of the now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula indicted in 2005 on charges of having sex with children as part of occult rituals. His trial is set to begin Nov. 26.

Bernard’s attorney, Al Bensabat, filed a motion to suppress the girl’s testimony, arguing that she was too young during the alleged abuse to remember accurately what may or may not have happened.

Her age also makes her susceptible to suggestion by adults, Bensabat has said in court.

Assistant District Attorney Don Wall told the judge Wednesday that Bensabat is asking the court to address the question of the child’s credibility and not her competency to take the witness stand.--->> http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/11102006.html
 
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