Ponchatoula church cult cited in child rape, animal sex case

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:35 am

HAMMOND -- Authorities arrested a Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's deputy and a self-proclaimed minister Tuesday as part of a six-week investigation into the alleged cult-like practices of a Ponchatoula church that included having sex with children and animals, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said Wednesday. Deputies also arrested a third man early Wednesday morning for aggravated rape of a juvenile and seized computers and a carpet sample at the church Tuesday night, Edwards said. Investigators believe a splinter group of the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula formed a cult whose practices included having sex with children and animals from 1999 until the church disbanded in 2003, Edwards said. Five victims have been interviewed so far, and investigators believe there are more potential victims. The victims range in age from infants to teens and include boys and girls, Edwards said. Edwards said some cult members are parents of the victims. The parents either knew about the alleged abuse or harmed their own children, he said. He said the animal victims are cats and dogs. Edwards said that the minister is likely the leader of the group, but investigators have not confirmed that yet. The alleged acts also don't appear to be a part of the regular worship of the church and took place in classrooms on the church property and not in the sanctuary, he said. Not all members of the church knew about the alleged sexual acts, Edwards said. Authorities searched the church Tuesday night and turned the two computers and the carpet sample over to the State Police Crime Lab, Edwards said. The lab is checking the computers for evidence of child pornography. Two of the men in custody and the victims have told investigators some sexual acts were recorded, Edwards said. The investigation began six weeks ago when a woman in Columbus, Ohio, contacted Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's authorities about sexual misconduct involving her child. The woman told deputies she fled Louisiana several months ago to protect her child after finding out about the sexual acts of some members of the Hosanna Church. The woman waited until a week ago to provide detailed accounts of the alleged crimes and told deputies the FBI had requested she postpone talking to them, Edwards said. The FBI is involved because the crimes potentially include child pornography, Edwards said. In the meantime, Louis Lamonica, 45, of Holden, surrendered to Livingston Parish sheriff's deputies Monday. Lamonica is the former minister of the Hosanna Church and confessed to having sex with children and animals. Labat was booked into the Livingston Parish jail on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature. Authorities in Tangipahoa Parish arrested Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy Christopher Blair Labat, 24, of Lumino Lane, Hammond, on Tuesday afternoon on counts of aggravated rape and malfeasance in office. Labat, a patrol deputy hired in January 2004, was fired from his job the same day of his arrest, Edwards said. Authorities included the malfeasance count because as a sworn officer, Labat should have reported the alleged crimes, Edwards said. Labat is isolated and on suicide watch in the Tangipahoa Parish jail as a precaution, Edwards said. The third suspect, Austin Aaron Bernard III, 36, of Southwest Railroad Ave., was arrested early Wednesday morning and confessed to having sex with a juvenile under age 13 around November 2002, deputies said. He was booked into the parish jail on aggravated rape. Additional arrests and counts against the men are expected in the coming weeks, Edwards said. The investigation involves multiple agencies, including the Tangipahoa and Livingston parish sheriffs, the Ponchatoula Police Department and the FBI. <a href="http://2theadvocate.com/stories/051905/new_cult001.shtml" target="top">2theadvocate.com/stories/051905/new_cult001.shtml</a> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=rigorousintuition>Rigorous Intuition</A> at: 5/19/05 6:44 am

by **seemslikeadream** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:31 am

<a href="http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050518/APN/505180563&cachetime=3&template=dateline">www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050518/APN/505180563&cachetime=3&template=dateline</a> By ADAM NOSSITER Associated Press Writer May 18, 2005 Teachers and administrators in Tangipahoa Parish continue to violate a court-imposed school prayer ban, according to the ACLU, which Wednesday asked a federal judge to send them to jail. For the fourth time in less than two months, the ACLU has formally notified the judge that school officials are flouting the prayer ban, imposed to settle a lawsuit the civil liberties group filed for a parent in 2003. This time, the group says, an elementary school teacher in Tangipahoa Parish repeatedly held prayers in her fourth grade class, encouraged students to bring their Bibles to school, held Bible study classes in the cafeteria of D.C. Reeves Elementary School, and admonished students who didn't show up for the class. In addition, the ACLU cites a prayer it says was recently given at Amite High School, over a loudspeaker, at an awards banquet. The prayer ended with the words "In Jesus' name we pray," violating the ban; the principal of the school sat silently by. Wednesday's filing is the latest skirmish in a decade-long battle between the ACLU here and school authorities in the rural parish north of Lake Pontchartrain over the place of religion in the classroom. The group contends parish school officials systematically flout the Constitution's Establishment Clause forbidding the mixing of government and religion. Court decisions have repeatedly favored the civil liberties group, including the two latest ones - a 2004 prayer ban in the schools and a February decision by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan banning prayer before school board meetings. The school board Tuesday night pressed on with its appeal of that decision, announcing the addition of a national Christian-oriented legal group to its team, the Alliance Defense Fund. At the same time it warned school employees against flouting the court prayer ban. That warning preceded by hours, however, the ACLU's latest contention that some in Tangipahoa continue to ignore the court's orders. "The consent judgment is repeatedly violated by these individuals because they do not believe anything will happen to them," the ACLU said in its Wednesday court filing. "Their refusal to comply with the consent decree should and must result in their removal from society." Under the agreement, no "invocations by students to the student body over the school's public address system, during assemblies or at any school sponsored event" are allowed. A lawyer for the school board said the latest allegations would be "thoroughly investigated" and "disciplinary actions" would be taken if they hold up. "It's a personnel matter," said A. Kirk Gasperecz. "It's an employee not doing what they are supposed to be doing." The ACLU, however, suggested that teachers and administrators are willfully defying the prayer ban. It compared the fourth grade teacher to George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse door to hold off integration in the 1960s. "I have been teaching for 12 years, and I can do what I want in my own classroom or at school," the teacher, Pam Sullivan, told a student teacher who protested about her predilection for prayer and Bible study in class, according to the ACLU. Repeatedly, she "compelled" a student to recite a prayer in class before lunch, the group said. In addition, Sullivan expressed her disapproval of mixed-race marriages to the student teacher, who was "confronted" for challenging the frequent classroom praying, and told to "voluntarily withdraw." Once, she "entered the classroom and abruptly ordered the student to cease teaching and the ordered the students to stand and recite a prayer," according to the court filing. Unsuccessful in the 1990s in imposing an "evolution disclaimer" in classrooms, then on lunch-time prayer sessions, the Tangipahoa board in 2004 agreed to end prayer at school sporting events. Tuesday the board said in its statement that "anyone acting in violation of the consent judgment is doing so without the Board's authority or consent." But it again suggested students could lawfully hold "private prayers" at schools. It promised that teachers and administrators would receive "training" so violations due to "misunderstandings" could be avoided. A hearing on the contempt motions is set for June 1 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Wednesday, the ACLU said the violations it was citing were among the most egregious yet. "The federal court must rein in religious extremists who have taken over the Tangipahoa Parish school system by hijacking Christianity and using it to carry out their agenda of indoctrinating and proselytizing captive students under their control," said Joe Cook, the ACLU head in Louisiana. <a href="http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4503827/detail.html" target="top">www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4503827/detail.html</a> Deputy, Pastor, Church Member Jailed In Child Sex Abuse (3rd arrest) Deputy, Pastor, Church Member Jailed In Child Sex Abuse 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. (snip) On Monday, Louis Lamonica, 45, the former pastor of Hosanna Church, was booked with two counts of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature after he walked in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office and said he could implicate others in a situation at the church that reportedly occurred two years ago. All three are being held without bond. (snip) Additional arrests are expected. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=seemslikeadream@rigorousintuition>seemslikeadream</A> at: 5/19/05 7:37 am

by **lilorphant** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:23 am

Driving up that way, I saw posters and banners on several schools that had captions such as "WE SUPPORT SCHOOL PRAYER". Louisiana is a whole other planet. They still have drive throughs in some restaurants for black people who are not welcome in. A black guy got killed by a bouncer entering a bar on Bourbon Street for not having the right dress code". You can bet if there are going to be problems arising, it is going to start in the South.

by **seemslikeadream** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:44 pm

Investigators digging around church property (Ponchatoula sex cult) Investigators Digging Around Church Property 9th Member Of Alleged Ponchatoula Cult Arrested POSTED: 8:42 am CDT May 24, 2005 UPDATED: 12:29 pm CDT May 24, 2005 HAMMOND, La. -- Investigators were using digging equipment and cadaver dogs to search the grounds of the Hosanna Church compound in Ponchatoula Tuesday, according to WDSU NewsChannel 6 reporter Ed Reams. They would not say what they were looking for. Meanwhile, police have arrested the last person named so far in warrants accusing them of being part of a cult that advocated sex with children and animals, but a dozen or more additional people could be involved. FBI agents and East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies arrested Patricia "Trish" Pierson, 54, when she arrived at the Baton Rouge Municipal Airport on a flight from Tulsa, Okla., Monday at 6 p.m. snip/ The nine arrested are believed to be the central figures in the alleged cult. Other arrests could come later. Covington said detectives are interested in 12 to 15 people allegedly connected to the case. A tentative press conference is scheduled for Wednesday, when Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards will speak on the new developments in the case. More information will be given Tuesday afternoon if a press conference is scheduled, Covington said. Slideshow of suspects: <a href="http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4524017/detail.html#" target="top">www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4524017/detail.html#</a> <img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0520/4512959.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Nicole Bernard, 36, "the whistleblower," called authorities in April from Columbus, Ohio, to say she fled Louisiana in fear for her child. Bernard was arrested May 19. Her ex-husband is also under arrest. <img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0518/4503818.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Louis Lamonica, 45, "the pastor," for reasons that aren't yet clear, walked into the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office and confessed to abusing children and animals at Hosanna Church, telling investigators he could give the names of others. He was arrested May 16. <img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0518/4503667.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Christopher Labat, 24, "the deputy," is accused of aggravated (child) rape and crime against nature. He was a church member who lived on the compound. He was arrested May 17. <img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0524/4524709.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Trish Pierson, 54, was arrested as a fugitive May 23 and transferred to Tangipahoa Parish, where she was booked on charges of sexual battery and principal to aggravated rape. <img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0518/4505052.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, where the alleged abuse took place. More at article: ... <a href="http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4524017/detail.html" target="top">www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4524017/detail.html</a> Now CNN is reporting on this story: snip/ The former pastor told deputies he had been having sex with children for many years and "also educated the children as to how to perform sexual acts with each other and with animals," Carpenter said. Carpenter said the pastor unwittingly implicated himself while talking to investigators. He was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated rape of a child under age 13 and one count of crimes against humanity for alleged sexual acts involving animals, the detective said. Among those the pastor allegedly implicated were his 45-year-old wife -- also charged with aggravated rape of a juvenile under age 13, Carpenter said. Law enforcement authorities conducting the investigation include sheriff's deputies from Tangipahoa Parish, Livingston Parish, officers of the Ponchatoula Police Department and the FBI. On Friday, a police search of two homes resulted in confiscation of three vehicles, computers and other items that authorities said may be connected to the case. The FBI took custody of the vehicles. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said some of the crimes are believed to have been committed in the vehicles. snip/ <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/22/louisiana.church/" target="top">www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/22/louisiana.church/</a> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=seemslikeadream@rigorousintuition>seemslikeadream</A> at: 5/24/05 2:55 pm

by **Ted the dog** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:17 pm

...NOW CNN is reporting on this? it's been going on for almost a week, and they're just NOW reporting it? typical. Also, it should be noted that the CNN article doesn't even mention the satanic aspects of the crimes...the satanic aspects that even the PEOPLE ACCUSED have admitted to! people just really DO NOT want to hear the truth about this stuff, do they? this is the first time in a long time, where you've got: 1. living victims 2. hard evidence 3. perpetrators in custody who are blatantly ADMITTING that they did this for satanic reasons 4. police that are reporting that, yes, it IS satanic in nature and 5. all of it has been reported in a reliable main stream media source. what more do people need?! how much more evidence is necessary to show people? I got into a conversation the other day with someone about this after showing them the article where the police chief stated that, "....yes these crimes are satanic in nature, as hard as that is to believe...."...and this person STILL said, "oh...SRA conspiracy crap again?" it's a great example of what's happened so many times before. it happened with the gannon/gosch debacle, and it happened when popular mechanics "debunked" the 9/11 myths, just as recent examples, and it happens ALL the time with the SRA "debunking". the story comes out one way, it's speculated on by "the fringe" while the mainstream sleeps through it, then 3 weeks after the fact, the mainstream swoops in and "debunks" everything....now the dipshits that were watching American Idol and "sleeping" only see the mainstream "debunking" on CNN, take note, utter some asswipe comment about "stupid liberals" and then go back to watching The Simple Life. So basically, someone that does absolutely ZERO reading and research, has CNN do their reading for them, assumes that that's all they need to know, and is confident that everyone saying something counter to what CNN is saying is a "tin foil hat wearing liberal lunatic". all of a sudden they're an authority on the subject after watching CNN do their half-wit reporting on something. With the SRA stuff, now anytime something comes up about organized pedophilia, people use the arguments used to disprove the SRA stuff back in the 80's as proof that it's not going on now....totally ignorant to the fact that this kind of case is completely different. man...this is so frustrating.

by **Ted the dog** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:53 pm

The CNN article doesn't even mention the word "cult". not even once. man...this is just ridiculous. they mention the fact that the people were screwing animals and forcing children to have sex with animals, but no mention of it being a cult and no mention of anything satanic or even "occult-ish". great reporting from CNN once again.

by **sunny** » Tue May 24, 2005 8:21 pm

Harking back to "Bizarre Sex Habits of the Extreme Right-Wing" I'd be willing to bet that these good Louisianans were all supposed "God fearin', Bush lovin' "Real Americans" before the roof fell in on them..

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu May 26, 2005 10:54 am

Columbus Woman Extradited to Louisiana May 26 Witnesses told police that people dressed in black clothing stood inside pentagrams and performed blood rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals at a now-closed church. A woman whose phone call to police started the investigation was arrested last week in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on a charge that she raped her daughter. Authorities left with Nicole Bernard from Columbus on Wednesday for Louisiana after she gave up her right to a hearing on whether she should be extradited. Police searched a storage unit in Columbus after Bernard told them it contained evidence. Officers took mattresses, videos and nine garbage bags full of costumes from the storage facility, according to a search warrant. ... "The sheriff said there were cult-like activities involved," Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's spokeswoman Laura Covington said. "Some witnesses said the blood rituals took place inside pentagrams." Alleged victims have said the suspects wore black clothing while the rituals took place. Covington said it's unclear if the group was engaged in devil worship. Witnesses said the rituals involved the blood of cats, and dogs and cats were used for sexual purposes. Bernard, who was charged with aggravated rape, told authorities she previously lived in Columbus. Authorities said Bernard abused her daughter when the girl was an infant. The 5-year-old is now in foster care. Bernard's ex-husband, Austin Aaron Bernard, was arrested May 17 on a charge accusing him of making a girl under the age of 13 perform a sex act. Rape of a child under 13 is a capital offense in Louisiana. The investigation opened five weeks ago when Nicole Bernard called from Ohio, saying she had fled from Louisiana out of fear for her child, authorities said. On May 16, pastor Louis Lamonica walked into the Livingston Parish sheriff's office and authorities said he started talking about his involvement and giving the names of others. The defunct church is located east of Baton Rouge and north of New Orleans. <a href="http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=3395481&nav=LQlCaKKp" target="top">www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=3395481&nav=LQlCaKKp</a>

by **FourthBase** » Thu May 26, 2005 11:27 am

So I'm in New Orleans for my girlfriend's sister's wedding, and I go out to get the Times-Picayune on the day of the wedding as a momento, and I almost did a spit take when I saw the headline. I still have the paper, if anyone is interested I'll try to scan the story. The trip was funny. Without internet access I was antsy about missing new RI stories, but I got to read the RI story-of-the-day with my coffee and cigarette. I was also worried about missing the Red Sox, but lo and behold they were playing the Braves and the games were on TBS.

Ponchatoula church cult cited in child rape, animal sex case

Ponchatoula church cult cited in child rape, animal sex case

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Columbus Woman Extradited to Louisiana

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