| id | cleanReleaseDate | troopName | title |
| 115 | 2017-11-28 | Troop A | Denham Springs Woman Arrested after Filing False Rape Complaint against Livingston Parish Deputy |
TROOP A NEWS RELEASE November 28, 2017 Denham Springs Woman Arrested after Filing False Rape Complaint against Livingston Parish Deputy Livingston Parish – On October 24, 2017, Troopers from the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations were requested by the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office to conduct an investigation into an alleged rape committed by one of their deputies. The investigation resulted in the arrest of the complainant, 38 year old Sherri Penton of Denham Springs. The initial investigation by State Police revealed that the incident began on October 20, 2017 when Penton and the deputy met on a dating website. They arranged a meeting the next morning at a park in the town of Walker. During the meeting, Penton and the deputy engaged in sexual acts. Three days later, Penton went to a Baton Rouge area hospital and claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the deputy. The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office was contacted and advised of the claims. They then requested assistance from LSP since the case involved one of their deputies. During the course of the investigation, Penton and the deputy gave conflicting accounts of their interactions. Penton told Troopers that the deputy raped her in the back of his vehicle. The deputy told Troopers that the sex was consensual and it took place in the restroom of the park. With the assistance of the LSP Crime Lab DNA Unit, Troopers were able to determine that the encounter occurred in the restroom. Crime Lab technicians were able to collect DNA evidence from the park restroom that corroborated the deputy’s account of the event. The Crime Lab was unable to locate any evidence from the deputy’s vehicle indicating that Penton was ever inside. As a result of the month long investigation that included investigative support from analysts with the Louisiana State Analytical & Fusion Exchange Center (LA-SAFE), Troopers were able to determine that Penton knowingly filed a false complaint alleging rape against the deputy. Troopers obtained an arrest warrant for Penton, and on November 27, 2017, she was arrested for Filing a False Complaint against Law Enforcement and Criminal Mischief. Penton was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. “The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office takes every complaint that it receives seriously” said Sheriff Jason Ard. “My job and the job of this office is to investigate those complaints. The facts of any investigation reveal the validity of any complaint. In this particular incident, the evidence did not back up the accuser’s story. I appreciate the work of the LSP Troopers and those at the LSP Crime Lab and Fusion Center for their work in this case. I treated the allegations against one of my deputies seriously, and the work of the LSP found that the allegations against him were false." Contact Information: S/T Bryan Lee Louisiana State Police Public Affairs Section – Troop A Office: (225) 754-8524 bryan.lee@la.gov www.LSP.org www.facebook.com/LouisianaStatePolice | |||
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