A Roman Catholic priest in the south-west Louisiana diocese where the US church’s clergy abuse scandal effectively started decades ago has been formally charged with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile.
A bill of information from the district attorney for Acadia parish charges 37-year-old Korey LaVergne with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile who was 15 at the time of the alleged offenses.
Court documents charge LaVergne with “willfully, unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally [committing] lewd or lascivious acts upon [the] juvenile” – or in the presence of the minor – on or about 1 January 2024. The charges contend that LaVergne had the “intention of arousing or gratifying the sexual desires of either person”.
A document dated 11 March filed by LaVergne’s attorneys state that the clergyman opted to waive his formal arraignment and in writing pleaded not guilty to the charges outlined in the bill of information.
LaVergne is a priest for the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. Another Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe brought the Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US’s collective conscience by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he encountered through his ministry.
He served 10 years in prison and now lives in Texas, and he has continued to be named in civil lawsuits from victims seeking damages from the Lafayette diocese over their abuse at Gauthe’s hands.
LaVergne’s formal charges came after he was arrested in mid-January on the same three counts referred to in the bill of information.
At the time, records showed that LaVergne, the pastor at the St Edward Catholic church in the community of Richard, posted bail of $15,000 less than 90 minutes after being jailed. That secured his release from custody while the case proceeds.
A week after his arrest, the Guardian obtained the investigators’ initial report on the case, which stated that LaVergne had been jailed after local authorities were told that the clergyman had “inappropriately touched a child” over the course of a year.
The Lafayette news station KADN reported on 16 January that another priest had reported the allegations against LaVergne to authorities prior to his arrest.
A pretrial hearing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for 12 June after LaVergne’s attorney filed a series of standard court motions, records show.
Neither LaVergne nor his attorney immediately responded to requests for comment from the Guardian on Friday regarding the formal charges.
LaVergne faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.
Generally, under Louisiana law, indecent behavior with a juvenile can be punished with up to seven years in prison.
The state defines the offense as “any lewd or lascivious act … in the presence of any child under the age of 17”. The law also states that messages – including texts – and actions alleged to constitute grooming can fall under the offense.