Tag: Louisiana
Substitute teacher who admitted sex with boys gets no jail time
A former substitute teacher in Louisiana who pleaded guilty to having sex with three boys will be spared jail time, thanks to a plea deal.
Heidi M. Verrett, 34, pleaded guilty on March 22 to three misdemeanor counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile after her 2016 arrest on charges of having sex with three 15- and 16-year-old boys at her home, the Houma Courier reported.
District Judge John Walker suspended Verrett’s six-month jail term following her guilty pleas, sentencing the former Terrebonne Parish substitute teacher and teacher’s aide to two years of unsupervised probation, along with $900 in fines.
The plea agreement also prohibits Verrett from teaching for two years, but prosecutors said she won’t be instructing students in Terrebonne Parish or other districts for the rest of her life.
“We have been assured she would never be able to teach in the school system again,” Terrebonne Parish Assistant District Attorney Dennis Elfert said. “From a legal standpoint, the maximum probationary period is two years, and that is the extent to which the probation can legally be bound.”
Regardless of those requirements, Elfert said prosecutors told relatives of the teen victims that Verrett would not be allowed to return to a classroom.
Verrett’s attorney, Teresa King, said her client was pleased with the outcome.
“She wanted to avoid the risk of jail time,” King told the newspaper. “If we had gone to trial, there’s always that risk. So I think the deal was worked out in everyone’s best interest.”
Police in Houma said Verrett also had “inappropriate” discussions with a 12-year-old boy on social media.
Verrett was charged with having sex with the teens during a two-month period in late 2016, according to court records cited by WDSU. As part of her plea deal, Verrett does not have to register as a sex offender, the station reported.
And although Verrett’s employment will not be restricted once her probation expires, Elfert said it’s very unlikely she’d be hired by another district.
“Anybody who might want to hire this woman in the future, especially when it involves kids, is going to see that on her record,” Elfert told the Houma Courier. “I would suggest there won’t be many school systems at all that would hire her.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/03/substitute-teacher-who-admitted-sex-with-boys-gets-no-jail-time/
Lyft driver charged with kidnapping, raping intoxicated female passenger
A Lyft driver in Louisiana kidnapped and raped an intoxicated female passenger at his apartment last month, authorities said.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the 43-year-old victim told police in New Orleans that a driver later identified as Yousef Hamed, 30, picked her up after a night of drinking on Jan. 23. A friend of the woman had earlier called for a ride on her behalf because she was “fairly intoxicated,” Lopinto told reporters Thursday.
But instead of taking the woman to her home just several blocks away, Hamed drove her to his apartment in Harvey, where he asked the woman to come inside. She accepted the invitation and Hamed proceeded to remove her clothing inside the residence before raping her vaginally and anally. He then returned to the Bywater section of New Orleans and dropped the woman off, Lopinto said.
At some point during the ride, Hamed disconnected the fare, signaling to the woman’s friend that the trip was over and that she presumably had arrived home safely, according to the sheriff.
“Most people are going to be able to get home [when using ride-hailing apps like Lyft] but it goes to show that we have sick people in this world,” Lopinto told reporters.
The woman reported the alleged rape to New Orleans police the following day, prompting a rape kit to be performed. Due to her state of intoxication, the woman was initially unsure of exactly where the sexual assault occurred, but investigators later determined with the help of Lyft representatives that the rape took place in Jefferson Parish, authorities said.
Hamed, who has no known prior criminal history, remained held on $400,000 bond at the Jefferson Parish Correctional as of Friday, jail records show.
Lopinto also noted that Hamed claimed that he had consensual sex with the woman, claiming that she had acted in a “childish” manner and admitted to him that she was intoxicated. But Lopinto dismissed that claim, saying that an impaired person cannot provide consent to sexual activity.
“I hate to put it this way, but when somebody’s intoxicated to any point, we know in this society that this action is not appropriate, so I could care less about what he says from that standpoint,” Lopinto told reporters. “A Lyft driver should never be picking up a stranger and bringing them back to their apartment under any type of circumstance, so let’s make that very clear.”
Lyft reps, meanwhile, characterized the allegations as “horrific” in a statement to The Post.
“The safety of our community is our top priority, and we have no tolerance for this behavior on our platform,” the statement read. “We have deactivated the driver and reached out to extend our support to the passenger. We have also been in touch with law enforcement, and stand ready to assist with their investigation.”
Woman kills husband at Walmart in front of their 3 kids
A mother of three from Louisiana gunned down her estranged husband in the parking lot of a Walmart while their three children watched, cops said.
Kayla Coutee, 31, is facing murder charges in the second-degree for the Saturday morning shooting, according to Alexandria Police.
She allegedly killed her husband, Thomas Coutee Jr., 30, after agreeing to meet him at a Walmart to exchange custody of their children — ages 7, 5 and 2.
Kayla pumped a single round into Thomas’ chest and then sat and waited for police to arrive, cops said.
She was later taken into custody without incident. The children were not injured and safely transported to APD headquarters. The Department of Children and Family Services was contacted soon after.
“Based on the information detectives learned in their investigation, Kayla Coutee was arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder,” cops said in a press release. “She was transported to the Rapides Parish Detention Center and booked.”
Thomas Coutee reportedly filed for divorce from Kayla, though it’s unclear when. A police spokesperson told ABC News that their children are now in the custody of family members.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/woman-kills-husband-at-walmart-in-front-of-their-3-kids-cops/
Family forced autistic relative to eat her mom’s ashes
A family in Louisiana held an autistic relative captive for nearly 11 months in a backyard cage and subjected her to shocking abuse, including forcing her to eat her mother’s cremated remains mixed with milk, federal authorities allege.
Department of Justice officials announced Thursday that a federal grand jury in New Orleans returned a six-count human trafficking and hate crime indictment in connection with the vile and twisted abuse sustained by the 22-year-old woman — identified only as D.P. — in Amite.
Details of the depraved allegations were outlined in an indictment obtained by the Times-Picayune, including accusations that the five family members shot the woman with a BB gun and covered her “from head to toe” in feces and urine.
Federal prosecutors also allege the woman’s relatives forced her to eat her mother’s ashes from a cereal bowl after mixing them with milk and to take meth and prescription painkillers under the threat of being reported to police if she stopped obeying the family’s orders to work at the home without getting paid.
The abuse, according to the indictment, began in August 2015, one day after the victim’s brother died, and continued through June 2016. The family members charged in connection with the allegations were identified as Raylaine Knope, 42; Terry Knope II, 45; Jody Lambert, 23; Taylor Knope, 20; and 21-year-old Bridget Lambert, who was charged separately for allegedly taking part in the forced-labor conspiracy.
It’s unclear how the victim is related to the suspects, who moved from a home in Kentwood they shared with the woman’s late mother to a mobile home in Amite in August 2015, according to the Times-Picayune.
Federal prosecutors also allege the family took extreme measures to make sure the woman didn’t try to escape, including regular death threats and holding her captive in a cage with no electricity or running water. They also forced her to make sexual advances to several men as part of a sex trafficking scheme, according to the indictment.
During one alleged incident, prosecutors said Terry Knope and Jody Lambert dumped a bucket of human waste onto the woman, leaving her entire body covered. She then began screaming as Jody Lambert laughed, according to the indictment.
The woman’s relatives were arrested in June 2016 after police received calls about a caged woman in the area, the Times-Picayune reports.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/27/family-forced-autistic-relative-to-eat-her-moms-ashes-feds/
Woman trashes eatery, hit owner’s car over wrong food order
A Louisiana woman was arrested for allegedly trashing a Chinese restaurant and hitting the owner’s vehicle after her food order “was not made properly,” police say.
According to a police report released Monday, the customer, identified by police as 20-year-old Jasmine Thompson, visited China King in Slidell, La., last Thursday.
Thompson reportedly become irate at the employees after her food was “not made properly,” Slidell police confirm.
Thompson began throwing utensils and sauces around the restaurant while yelling racial slurs at the staff.
As Thompson fled the restaurant, she hit the owner’s car with her own vehicle, according to the report.
Police were called to the scene around 6:30 p.m. by witnesses who gave authorities her license plate information.
Thompson was stopped by police and charged with criminal damage, disturbing the peace, hit-and-run and not having insurance.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/06/25/woman-trashes-eatery-hit-owners-car-over-wrong-food-order-police/
Louisiana Teacher Bullied 11-Year-Old Girl, Allegedly Told Her to Kill Herself
The 11-year-old girl was relentlessly bullied. And the culprit, police say, were her teachers.
One of them told the girl to “go kill herself” and threatened to fail other students if they didn’t fight the girl, police said. And when that teacher was removed from the classroom, a second teacher allegedly kept up the abuse.
The two Louisiana teachers, Ann Marie Shelvin and Tracy Gallow, now face criminal charges.
Forced fights
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said he learned of the accusations back in February after the girl’s mother filed a complaint. The mother returned to the sheriff’s office in April to say the abuse was continuing.
Deputies said Shelvin, a teacher at Washington Elementary, threatened to fail three of her students if they didn’t fight the girl. She also allegedly told the bullied girl to “go and kill herself.”
In a police report obtained by CNN, a student involved in the incident told deputies that Shelvin forced her to start a fight that resulted in several students sent to the principal’s office.
The student said she was told if she didn’t fight the girl, Shelvin would refuse to help her with her class work just like she refuses to help the 11-year-old, the report said.
The student told deputies she was scared she’d be treated like the bullied girl if she didn’t comply.
Caught on camera
Shelvin was eventually removed from the school and Gallow, a former teacher’s aide, took over her class.
The girl’s mother told police that Gallow retaliated against the girl for reporting Shelvin to the principal.
School surveillance cameras caught Gallow pushing the girl onto the school bleachers on two occasions, the sheriff’s office said. When questioned by police, Gallow admitted pushing the student because she felt the girl was too upset to go start her testing.
A school board official, Anthony Stanberry told CNN affiliate KLFY is disturbed by the news and is promising swift action.
“As a St. Landry Parish school board member, St. Landry Parish is not going to tolerate it,” Anthony Stanberry, an official, told KLFY.
Whatever actions needs to be taken care of to handle the situation is what we plan to do.”
The school district said it is investigating the allegations.
“We want to assure the school community that we take these allegations very seriously and we are doing everything to protect the health, safety and welfare of our students,” St. Landry Parish School Board supervisor of personnel Matthew Scroggins said.
Sheriff Guidroz says the mother did the right thing by reporting the bullying to the school board.
“Students should not have to attend school and be bullied especially by teachers that are there for their education, guidance and safety,” he said.
The teachers are charged with malfeasance in office, intimidation and interference in school operations.
Shooter, 2 victims dead in Louisiana theater shooting
BREAKING NEWS
Three Victims dead at the Grand 16 the shooter took the easy way out and committed suicide. God be with the victims family at this time. More on this developing story later today!
RNN) – Three people have died in a theater shooting during a showing of Trainwreck in Lafayette, LA The shooting occurred at 7:30 p.m. CT at the Grand 16 Theater after 20 minutes into the movie.
According to Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft, the shooter and two victims died. Ten people in total were shot. The other victims’ injuries range from non-life-threatening to critical. Authorities have confirmed that three victims are in critical condition. Via: WLOX ABC CBS Louisiana