Catholic priest in Louisiana charged with child sexual abuse | Louisiana
A Roman Catholic priest in the southwestern Louisiana diocese where the U.S. church’s clergy abuse scandal effectively began decades ago has been formally charged with three counts of inappropriate conduct with a teenager.
A memorandum from the Acadia County district attorney charges Korey LaVergne, 37, with three counts of felony indecency with a child who was 15 at the time of the alleged crimes.
Court documents accuse LaVergne of “willfully, unlawfully, knowingly and knowingly” [committing] lewd or lustful behavior [the] In the presence of a minor on or about January 1, 2024. The charges allege that LaVergne “intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of both individuals.”
A March 11 document filed by LaVergne’s attorneys says the cleric chose to waive his formal hearing and entered a written plea of not guilty to the charges outlined in the brief.
LaVergne is priest of the Lafayette diocese in Louisiana. Another Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe brought the Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the collective conscience of the United States by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he encountered through his ministry.
He served 10 years in prison, now lives in Texas, and continues to be named in civil lawsuits filed by victims seeking compensation from the Lafayette diocese for abuses at the hands of Gauthe.
LaVergne’s formal charges follow his arrest in mid-January on the same three crimes mentioned in the memo.
Records at the time showed LaVergne, pastor of St. Edward Catholic church in the Richard community, posted $15,000 bail within 90 minutes of being taken to jail. This enabled him to be released from custody while the case continued.
A week after his arrest, the Guardian received investigators’ first report into the case; That report stated that LaVergne was jailed after local authorities were told the cleric had been “inappropriately touching a child” for a year.
Lafayette news station KADN reported on Jan. 16 that another priest reported the allegations against LaVergne to authorities before his arrest.
A preliminary hearing in the case was tentatively scheduled for June 12 after LaVergne’s attorney filed a series of standard court motions, records show.
Neither LaVergne nor her lawyer immediately responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment on the official charges on Friday.
LaVergne faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Usually under Louisiana lawIndecent behavior with a child can lead to a prison sentence of up to seven years.
The state defines the crime as “any lewd or lascivious act performed in the presence of any child under the age of 17.” The law also states that messages, including texts, and acts alleged to constitute grooming may also be criminalised.
