Author: Paul Purpura

Talvis Keller pleads guilty to killing girlfriend’s father in exchange for 35-year sentence

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Aug. 17) sentenced Talvis Keller to 35 years after he pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his girlfriend’s father during an argument on Christmas night of 2023.

Keller, 26, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Taj Laurent Sr., 51. His guilty plea averted a possible life sentence had he been convicted as charged of second-degree murder this week in his trial. Jury selection was about to begin Monday morning when he pleaded guilty.

Laurent’s family supported the guilty plea and sentence. “The family has had mercy on you,” Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court told Keller after hearing victim-impact testimony from Laurent’s widow, his daughter and his son. “They agreed to a manslaughter and a reduction in sentence to give you another chance.”

“My heart is shattered, and I can’t believe I have to live in a world without you,” Laurent’s widow said in victim-impact testimony directed toward her husband. She turned to Keller: “My heart does go out to you, for real,” she told him. “I love you Talvis, for real, even though this happened.”

Keller’s ex-girlfriend, who caught him cheating on her, testified. “My heart is broken,” she testified about the loss of her father before breaking into tears.

In a prepared statement, Laurent’s son testified that, “There are days when his absence feels impossible to put in words.”

Judge Darensburg sentenced Keller to 35 years for manslaughter and 10 years for obstruction of justice. The sentences were run concurrently.

Keller was romantically involved with Laurent’s daughter for about three years, and they lived together in the apartment in the 1000 block of Manhattan Boulevard for about six months.

At about 10 p.m., after visiting relatives during the Christmas holiday, Keller’s girlfriend returned to their apartment. Her parents and brother had dropped her off moments before she caught him in bed with another woman.

When Keller refused to leave, his girlfriend called her family, seeking help to have him removed. The woman who was with Keller left the apartment soon after his girlfriend walked in.

His girlfriend’s parents went up to the apartment and asked Keller to leave. He refused. An argument followed. Keller held a semiautomatic pistol. 911 was called. Keller shot Laurent once in the face, killing him.

Keller was arrested about 22 hours later at the Oasis motel in Gretna. There, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives found Keller hiding in a suitcase.

Two people in the room with him, Veranda Charles and Ketrone Robinson, were charged with accessory after the fact to second-degree murder. In October 2024, Charles and Robinson, both age 24 and of New Orleans, pleaded guilty as charged and received three years of active probation.

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Alexandra Herman prosecuted the case.

Byron Spottsville sentenced to life for Westwego playground murder

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday sentenced Byron Spottsville to life in prison for his conviction of murdering a 26-year-old man in a Westwego playground.

Spottsville, 23, received the mandatory sentence for his conviction of second-degree murder in the death of Zashawn Espinoza.

Click here to read about the trial.

Judge R. Christopher Cox of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Spottsville to mandatory life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Judge Cox additionally sentenced Spottsville to 40 years in prison for obstruction of justice. He ran the sentences concurrently.

Spottsville was charged with obstruction of justice for hindering the investigation by hiding the clothing he wore during the murder, the murder weapon and items he stole from Espinoza in a nearby wooded area.

Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Helmstetter and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.

 

Nathaniel Hernandez guilty of murder in stabbing, beating death of his girlfriend

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (Aug. 6) found Nathaniel Hernandez guilty of brutally stabbing and beating his girlfriend to death before dragging her body into a West Bank wooded area to hide it and setting her car on fire to eliminate evidence. 

Hernandez, 43, of Marrero, who used the name Nathan Mendoza and has a history of physically abusing women, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Sara Torello, 32, and of obstruction of justice for tampering with evidence. 

The mother of a young son whom she dropped off at his New Orleans school within hours of her death, Torello suffered 22 stab wounds, including 10 to her head and neck, one of which pierced her right carotid artery.  

“The defendant and the victim, Sara Torello, had a violent relationship,” Assistant District Attorney Piper Didier told jurors in opening statements on Tuesday. “You will find him guilty as charged. Hold him accountable.” 

“Twenty-two stab wounds, each time, each stab, each punch: Specific intent to kill,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron told jurors in closing argument Thursday in urging them to find Hernandez guilty as charged. “Twenty-two times, over and over and over again. He wanted her dead, and he was not going to stop until she was.” 

At about 9:30 a.m., on Nov. 17, 2022, Jefferson Parish Drainage Department employees were clearing a canal bank in the 3800 block of Alex Kornman Drive in Harvey when they witnessed Hernandez beating and stabbing Torello inside her Honda CRV. 

Torello screamed for help. One of the parish employees called 911, telling the operator they needed police immediately because he was killing her. Hernandez pulled Torello out of the driver’s seat and into the passenger’s seat. He then drove away. Another employee used his cell phone to record a video of the CRV being driven away. “He killed her, bro!”, one of the workers is heard saying in the video. 

Another employee got the license plate number, enabling the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to determine that Torello owned the CRV. As a search was underway for the victim and suspect, deputies spoke with Torello’s father, who informed them that she was in a violent and tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship with Hernandez. 

Detectives then went to Hernandez’s residence in Marrero. There, the detectives learned that Hernandez had been at the residence at about 10:30 a.m. and departed with a gasoline container.  

At about 2:20 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office was notified of a car fire in a wooded area in the 700 block of Churchill Parkway in Avondale. It was Torello’s CRV, which Hernandez drove deep into the wooded area on a trail that was too narrow to be used by fire trucks.  

Nearby, deputies found Torello’s body beneath branches and sticks. At the autopsy, the forensic pathologist determined that scratches on her back were consistent with her being dragged through the wooded area.   

The Sheriff’s Office scoured the wooded area using canines and drones in search of Hernandez. At about 6:30 p.m., he emerged from the woods into a clearing the Sheriff’s Office used as a staging area for the search operation. He was arrested. 

When interviewed by detectives, Hernandez said he “floated” into the wooded area and asserted that a detective might have killed Torello. He admitted that he had been in the CRV with Torello, and that they fought. But he said he left the vehicle and never killed her. 

Hernandez’s hoodie, which he was seen wearing earlier that day, was found near the incinerated CRV. It had Torello’s blood on it. 

Among his belongings when he was arrested was a lighter and box of LD 100s cigarettes with the top missing. Near the burnt CRV, detectives found the partially burned top of that cigarette box, further placing Hernandez at the crime scene. 

Hernandez already had been convicted of battery on a dating partner involving a previous girlfriend in 2020, jurors learned this week. 

Jurors also heard testimony showing that he physically abused Torello at least four times during the two months before her death. In one of those incidents, she hid from Hernandez in the women’s restroom at a West Bank pharmacy and called her father for help. In another, she showed up at an emergency room for treatment of injuries, claiming that a group of women beat her. A man believed to be Hernandez was in the waiting room. He vanished before police arrived. 

Jurors, who heard testimony from 27 state witnesses over a 2-day period, deliberated less than 1 ½ hours before returning with the verdicts just after lunch. 

Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for Aug. 19. 

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Leo Aaron prosecuted the case. 

 

 

 

Miker Ginorio convicted of murdering his father with a baseball bat

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday evening (Aug. 6) found Miker Ginorio guilty of beating his father to death with a wooden baseball bat in their Gretna home. 

Ginorio, 42, is guilty of second-degree murder in the March 31, 2020, death of Carlos Ginorio Sr., 69. The Gretna Police Department responded to complaints involving the elder Ginorio and his son at the residence in the 2500 block of Claire Avenue numerous times during the year leading up to the homicide. On the day before the murder, a neighbor heard Ginorio yell at his father, “I will kill you tonight.” 

“This circle of domestic violence involving Mr. (Carlos) Ginorio was a sick and sad circle,” Assistant District Attorney Brooke Harris told jurors in opening statements Monday.  

“This is a gruesome attack,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Somerville told jurors in closing argument Thursday. “This is a personal attack. This is domestic violence.” 

An expert in crime scene reconstruction and blood spatter pattern analysis, Dr. Timothy Scanlan, testified that the elder Ginorio was sitting on his sofa when Ginorio struck him in the head from behind. It was the first of at least seven blows to the head. 

A struggle followed in the kitchen, where at 8:34 p.m., the father tried to dial his cell phone. He was unable to complete the dial, and there were no more calls from that phone afterward (police later found the phone under the kitchen table). 

The attacks culminated in the rear bedroom, where the body was later found. The bloody baseball bat was leaning against the wall next to the body. 

At 8:57 p.m., the front door to the residence was opened and closed for the last time before the body was found the following day, according to the home security system records detectives obtained. 

Hours later, at about 4 a.m., on April 1, 2020, police in Jennings, La., responded to a complaint about a man in a fast-food restaurant parking lot in that Jefferson Davis Parish city about 180 miles west of Gretna. It was Ginorio, who was in his father’s Toyota Camry. He had cash but no identification. Because he committed no crime there, the police suggested he sleep at a nearby motel.  

Soon after, police received a complaint about someone driving erratically. It was Ginorio again. This time, the police arrested him on a charge of public intoxication. Ginorio mentioned something about a baseball bat. The police determined that he was driving his father’s car and so asked Gretna police to contact the elder Ginorio about whether his son had permission to have the vehicle. 

A Gretna police officer received no response when he knocked on the Ginorio residence door. Gretna PD reached another of the Ginorio sons. That son went to the Claire Avenue residence to check on his father. After receiving no response, the son notified Gretna PD to inform them that he would force entry. 

Gretna PD dispatched an officer to the residence. By the time the officer arrived, the son had already found his father’s body. He was “physically hysterical,” Assistant DA Harris told jurors. Neighbors also emerged from the residence. 

The officer went inside and found “a blood bath,” with blood on the walls, the ceiling and even smeared across the thermostat that was set at 59 degrees, Assistant DA Harris said.  

“Mr. Ginorio Sr. was beaten so badly that his skull was fractured in multiple places. His face was nearly unrecognizable,” she told jurors. 

When questioned by Gretna detectives, Ginorio appeared to know that his father was dead, even though the officers said nothing to him about the elder man having died. Ginorio eventually said he had been at the residence with his father, and two men he knew as “Stank” and “Tall Man” arrived with plans to beat his father with baseball bats. He said his father talked these men into allowing him to leave. So, Ginorio asserted, he drove away in his father’s car. 

The cash that Ginorio had when arrested in Jennings had his father’s blood on it, according to a DNA analysis. Shorts in the car also had blood on it. In the bathroom at the Claire Avenue residence, police found a glove with the elder Ginorio’s blood on the exterior and Ginorio’s DNA on the inside. 

“All evidence points to Miker,” Assistant DA Harris said. “All science points to Miker.” 

At trial, Giornio’s attorneys argued that he did not kill his father. They told jurors that detectives failed to rule out Ginorio’s brother as a suspect. They also said that at least four civilians had entered the house before police arrived, calling it “a contaminated crime scene.” On the matter of DNA, the defense attorneys argued that the father and son both lived in the same residence, so it would be reasonable to believe that both men’s genetic material would be in the house. 

Jurors who were selected on Monday deliberated about an hour before returning with their unanimous verdict. 

Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Ginorio on Aug. 26. 

Assistant District Attorneys Brooke Harris and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case. 

Lifer Leon Ruffin Jr. convicted of escaping JPSO custody after faking illness, gets another 32 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday (July 14) deliberated about 30 minutes in finding Leon “Mookie Mook” Ruffin Jr. guilty of emptying a canister of pepper spray into the face of a deputy, leaving her incapacitated, before escaping from custody at a West Bank hospital in the deputy’s marked vehicle. 

Ruffin, 53, of Algiers, was convicted as charged of aggravated escape, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and battery on a police officer. 

Separately, he was convicted of conspiring with his wife, Shelita Ruffin, to smuggle a cigarette lighter and cigarettes into the parish jail and of possessing contraband in the facility. 

Ruffin already is serving a life sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for murdering Gannon Johnson in Avondale three years ago. He was held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna awaiting trial for that murder when he escaped on Feb. 25, 2025. 

Immediately following the reading of the verdict on Tuesday morning, Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Ruffin to 32 years in prison and ordered him returned to Angola. Judge Enright ran Tuesday’s sentences consecutively to the life sentence that he gave Ruffin for the murder almost two years ago. 

“He can go back to Angola just as soon as they can get him there,” Judge Enright announced. He added he would personally call Angola’s warden with the request to “send the van immediately” to retrieve him from Jefferson Parish. 

While awaiting trial for the Avondale murder, Ruffin concocted an escape plan that included his feigning a medical episode in the parish jail.  The episode included faking a seizure, which was documented by deputies’ body-worn cameras. He also stole a canister of pepper spray from a deputy’s untended service belt in the jail’s medical unit. 

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which operates the parish jail, sent Ruffin to Ochsner’s West Bank campus in unincorporated Gretna in an ambulance for evaluation.  

He was confined to a wheelchair, and because of an immobilizing medical boot on his right foot and leg and bandages on his left wrist, he was not shackled at the ankles and wrists. He likely smuggled the pepper spray canister out of the parish jail by hiding it in his medical boot. 

Several hours after he was hospitalized, he was released and was to be returned to the jail. Two nurses wheeled him out of the hospital and helped place him in the rear seat of a marked Sheriff’s Office vehicle. It was parked outside a non-public entrance to the hospital. 

Moments later, he complained to the transport deputy that his foot was hurting. When the deputy investigated, Ruffin emptied the canister of pepper spray into her face, temporarily blinding her. He removed the medical boot from his leg and discarded it at the scene, ran around the vehicle, got into the driver’s seat and sped away. The deputy fired her service weapon three times at Ruffin in an effort to stop his escape. 

The incident was recorded by the hospital video surveillance system. The evidence clearly implicates Ruffin, Assistant District Attorney Molly Love told jurors Tuesday in closing argument. 

“This isn’t a ‘maybe he did it,’” Assistant DA Love said. “This isn’t ‘possibly he did it.’ It’s him.” 

Ruffin drove the JPSO vehicle to the 3600 block of Gen. de Gaulle Drive in Algiers, where he abandoned it in a business parking lot. He ditched his jail clothing behind the building. He was at large for two days before a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested him at a motel in New Orleans East. 

Ruffin never denied his escape and, in front of jurors on Tuesday morning as closing arguments were about to begin, he loudly proclaimed he would be convicted. His attorney urged jurors to find him not guilty. The attorney assailed the Sheriff’s Office and the deputy who was pepper sprayed because she fired her service weapon twice outside the hospital. 

Assistant District Attorney Piper Didier defended the deputy’s actions in closing argument. 

“He was facing a charge of second-degree murder,” Assistant DA Didier said. “He was awaiting trial for second-degree murder. One of the most violent crimes. Of course she fired her service weapon. … That’s just shifting blame. The defendant is a grown man. He did what he did. He needs to be held accountable for what he did.” 

Ruffin’s repeated outbursts in the courtroom lead Judge Enright to bar him from the courtroom after he proclaimed he would be convicted. Ruffin observed the remainder of the trial from the parish jail via Zoom and did not oppose Judge Enright’s request to announce the sentencing immediately after the verdict was announced. 

“He’s not coming back into this courtroom because of his antics in the past,” Judge Enright said. 

Ruffin’s wife, Shelita Ruffin, 54, of Algiers, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to introduce contraband into the parish jail. She received a 2-year prison sentence. 

Ruffin’s cohort in the escape, Richard R. Robinson, 34, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Monday to accessory after the fact to simple escape and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He received a 5-year sentence. Robinson drove Ruffin to the New Orleans East motel where he was arrested and provided him with food during his brief stay there.  

On July 9, 2023, Ruffin shot Johnson, 53, several times while Johnson jumped the battery of a rental car Ruffin was using. The shooting occurred in front of Johnson’s home in the 400 block of Federal Drive in Avondale. 

Ruffin pretended to have engine trouble and asked Gannon to use his jumper cables. As Gannon removed the jumper cables from Ruffin’s battery, Ruffin emerged from the driver’s seat of his car and shot Gannon six times, including in the body and head.  

Upon hearing the gunfire, Gannon’s fiancée walked out of the front door of their house. Ruffin shot at her as she fled back inside. Ruffin retrieved his jumper cables and drove away. He later returned to the neighborhood and watched deputies investigate the murder. 

Detectives found surveillance video from Gannon’s home that recorded the shooting. It showed Ruffin touching the hood of Johnson’s car. The Sheriff’s Office lifted one of Ruffin’s fingerprints from the hood, helping identify him as the killer. He was arrested at his Holiday Drive home in Algiers four days after he killed Johnson. 

When questioned by detectives, Ruffin, who grew up with Johnson in the Avondale area, confessed. Ruffin was convicted by a jury in September 2024 of the murder and was later sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

He additionally was convicted in that trial of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm (for which he received a 20-year sentence), aggravated assault with a firearm (for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison), simple criminal damage to property (for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison), and obstruction of justice (for which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison). 

He was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2009 conviction of armed robbery in Pike County, Miss. He was on parole for that crime when he killed Gannon. 

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Molly Love prosecuted Ruffin in the escape case. Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Piper Didier prosecuted Ruffin in the murder case. 

Byron Spottsville convicted of murdering man in Westwego playground

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (July 9) found Byron Spottsville guilty of gunning down a 26-year-old man at a Westwego playground while trying to rob him. 

Spottsville, 23, of Westwego, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Zashaun Espinoza. He also was convicted of obstruction of justice for hindering the investigation: He hid the clothing he wore during the killing and his Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic pistol, along with property he took from the victim in a nearby wooded area. 

Espinoza, of Marrero,  was shot seven times on April 30, 2025, while in Fred Dorsey Playground, at 38 Norton St. Spottsville, who had a history of opioid addiction, lived next to the playground with his grandparents. After texting people that day in an unsuccessful quest to find narcotics, Spottsville targeted Espinoza believing he had the opioids that his body craved. 

In his final moments of life, Espinoza was seated on the bleachers, his ear buds in his hands, while waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up. The couple had been exchanging text messages. Spottsville, dressed in black and carrying a black ski mask, approached Espinoza, believing he had illegal narcotics. Evidence suggests that when Spottsville brandished his pistol, Espinoza tried to run. Spottsville opened fire and continued to shoot while moving toward his victim. 

Of the eight bullets he fired, seven struck Espinoza in a tight grouping, Dr. Timothy Scanlan, who was qualified as an expert in crime scene reconstruction, blood stain pattern analysis and firearms and toolmark examination, noted in testimony. One of the bullets struck Espinoza in the back of his thigh, breaking his femur and leaving him unable to run. He fell to the ground. 

Spottsville then fired his final bullets.  “He stood over that man and shot him at least twice while he was helpless and incapacitated on the ground,” Assistant District Attorney Tommy Block told jurors Thursday in closing argument. 

“Byron Spottsville walked out of his house that day with a ski mask and a gun to get those pills no matter what it took,” Assistant District Attorney Sarah Helmstetter told jurors in opening statements this week. “Byron Spottsville walked out of that house that day and pulled that trigger eight times. Eight. He missed once. One time. He walked up to Zashaun Espinoza, and he took his life.” 

Before fleeing, Spottsville ripped from Espinoza’s dying body the shoulder bag he believed contained narcotics, which he wanted for himself. When police located it later, Espinoza’s bag contained only a bottle of cologne and a bracelet. 

Forensic evidence showed the bag had Espinoza’s blood on it and on both sides of the zipper, consistent with Spottsville rifling through the stolen property. Espinoza’s Louisiana Purchase Card was located along a fence line, confirming that Spottsville had gone through the victim’s bag before discarding it in a nearby vacant lot that was covered with overgrown brush and trees. 

Spottsville also stripped off the clothing and mask he wore during the homicide and hid the items in the underbrush. He wrapped the murder weapon in his hoody before secreting it in a 55-gallon oil drum in the lot. All of it was found in proximity to Espinoza’s property.   

Having removed his clothing, Spottsville then stole a blue bath towel from the back porch of a nearby residence and wrapped it around his waist. He walked back to his grandparents’ home in full view of the Westwego Police Department officers who were responding to the shooting scene. 

In doing so, he drew extraordinary attention to himself, leading police to seek him out for questioning in connection with the murder. The police initially inquired as to why he wore nothing but a bath towel. Spottsville immediately denied knowledge of the shooting. 

“Westwego police weren’t asking him about it,” Assistant DA Helmstetter said of the murder. “They were asking him why he was walking around the neighborhood in a bath towel. He told his grandmother that he was showering at his girlfriend’s house, then told police he went to a vacant house to shower. It made no sense. … He leaves his house with running water to go to an abandoned house to shower?” 

Eventually, Spottsville confessed that he shot Espinoza asserting self-defense, but only after a detective raised self-defense when asking why he shot Espinoza. Police found no firearms in Espinoza’s possession when investigating the murder.  

Espinoza suffered gunshot wounds to his forehead, his cheek, his neck, his torso and his left thigh. The bullet that struck him in the neck traveled through his skull and exited the top of his head. That trajectory is consistent with Espinoza lying on his back when that bullet entered his body, Dr. Scanlan, the crime scene reconstruction expert, testified. 

“These wounds are not consistent with self-defense at all,” Assistant DA Helmstetter told jurors. 

While held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna a year after his arrest and only weeks before his trial, Spottsville told a family member in a recorded telephone conversation that he and Espinoza had an altercation in the park and that he shot Espinoza only after he reached for Spottsville’s pistol when he brandished it. Spottsville then claimed self-defense. Dr. Scanlan provided testimony at trial that rebutted Spottsville’s claim of self-defense as being inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence found on the crime scene. 

At trial and during closing arguments to the jury, Spottsville’s attorneys did not dispute that he shot and killed Espinoza. They attempted to put forth a hybrid defense of self-defense while also describing Spottsville’s actions as manslaughter, a lesser grade of homicide that carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Second-degree murder, with which Spottsville was indicted, carries a mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 

The defense pointed out that there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the only evidence the police had to identify the shooter was the statement that Spottsville gave. The defense attorneys argued that Spottsville legally purchased the pistol from a pawn shop (the receipt was still in his wallet), and that he did so for protection. And they said that Spottsville directed police to where he stashed his clothes, the pistol and Espinoza’s bag. 

Defense attorneys portrayed Spottsville as having been hospitalized for “severe depression,” in part because of the deaths of his mother and an uncle who overdosed on drugs claiming Spottsville’s drug addiction was a result of him self-medicating with opioids to treat his depression.  

Assistant DA Block said Spottsville was guilty of second-degree murder, whether because he had the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon Espinoza, or that he killed Espinoza while trying to rob him – known as felony-murder.  

“He’s not sorry for what he did,” Assistant DA Block told jurors. “He’s sorry he got caught. He’s sorry for himself.” 

“What the defense wants you to do is give Byron Spottsville a break,” Assistant DA Helmstetter told jurors in closing argument. “But I submit to you that Byron Spottsville doesn’t deserve a break.” 

Jurors deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with their unanimous verdicts. 

Judge R. Christopher Cox of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Spottsville on Aug. 17. 

Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Helmstetter and Tommy Block prosecuted the case. 

 

Terrytown pastor Terry Reed resentenced to 130 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (June 30) resentenced former Terrytown pastor Terry Reed to 130 years in prison, finding he is a habitual offender considering his convictions of sexually abusing teenaged boys.

Reed, 66, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on May 6 of third-degree rape and molestation of a juvenile, for sexually abusing two teenagers in his North Marlin Court home, from where he pastored the youths. Click here to read about the trial.

Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court last week sentenced Reed to 80 years in prison. Click here to read about the sentencing hearing.

On Tuesday, prosecutors, seeking an enhanced sentence, filed a multiple bill. It considers Reed’s 2017 conviction of indecent behavior with a juvenile and molestation of a juvenile. In that case, he pleaded guilty as charged and received five years of probation.

In finding that Reed is a habitual offender, Judge Steib increased Reed’s prison sentence from 80 years to 130 years.

Assistant District Attorneys James Wascom and Eric Cusimano prosecuted most recent case.

Quantrell Williams of Westwego sentenced to 37 years in child sex abuse case

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 24) sentenced Quantrell Williams to 37 years in prison for his conviction of having sexual relations with a teenaged girl and video recording it.

During just over an hour of deliberations on June 18, a jury found Williams, 32, of Westwego, guilty as charged of two counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and one count of possession of pornography involving juveniles.

While the teenager’s mother was at work one day in November 2023, Williams struck up a conversation about sex with the then-13-year-old girl in his Westwego home and repeatedly asked if she would have relations with him. That led to an encounter. Afterward, he had the teenager perform another sexual act before she would be allowed to play with friends. She again went along with his demands.

In August 2024, the teenager’s mother discovered a video of the incident on Williams’ cell phone, which she searched while he was incarcerated on an unrelated matter in Orleans Parish. She notified the Westwego Police Department, which began an investigation that led to Williams’ arrest.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Cusimano described Williams as “a pedophile predator” in closing arguments and pointed to other assaultive behaviors by the defendant. “While testifying at trial about additional prior assaults that had occurred between her and the defendant when she was under the age of 13, the victim stated that she had only disclosed these additional incidents to the district attorney’s office because it was the first time she felt like she was speaking to someone who believed her and was not telling her to deny the allegations, as Williams had attempted to persuade the victim’s mother and the victim to do in numerous phone calls,” Assistant DA Cusimano said.

In telephone conversations from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, which are recorded, Williams admitted to the victim’s mother what he had done but made excuses for it. “Anything I ever done or did, I had permission,” he told her. “Everything was always mutual.”

Williams later urged the victim’s mother to tell police that the allegations were “all lies.” “Tell her you coerced her to say that,” he told the mother. “Tell them you told her to say that because you were mad at me.” Upon learning that the mother had already disclosed the charges, he told her, “You just gave me a death sentence.”

The victim was unaware that she was being video recorded. She confirmed that it was her in the video. Assistant District Attorney James Wascom told jurors in closing argument that Williams was identifiable in the video through a surgical scar on his stomach and his tattoos.

“Every man and woman has a right to a trial by their peers,” Assistant DA Wascom told jurors. “And Mr. Williams refused to take responsibility for his actions. He needs to be held accountable.”

Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing that Williams likely sexually abused the victim more than what is known. The judge referred to the other assaults that were disclosed by the victim, which occurred when she was under 13 years old. Those assault allegations were deemed admissible evidence that was presented to the jury during the trial.

“The only way I look at this, Mr. Williams, is that you’re a rapist,” Judge Brindisi told Williams. “You raped this little girl. I don’t know how long the rape has been going on. … I know you’ve done it more than twice. I can only imagine how many times.”

Judge Brindisi sentenced Williams to 19 years for the pornography charge and nine years for each of the two carnal knowledge charges. He ran the sentences consecutively. The judge additionally ordered Williams to pay a $60,000 fine.

Assistant District Attorneys Eric Cusimano and James Wascom prosecuted the case.

Terrytown pastor Terry Reed sentenced to 80 years for sexually abusing teen boys

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (June 18) sentenced Terry Reed to 80 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing teenaged boys in his Terrytown home under the guise of acting as their pastor.

Reed, 66, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on May 6 of two counts of third-degree rape and two counts of molestation of a juvenile. He sexually abused both victims after gaining the trust from their guardians and taking them into his East Monterey Drive home, where he used scripture to manipulate the youths in normalizing his sexual behavior with them.

He brought the teens into his home despite his being a sex offender for similar behaviors involving other teenaged boys. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to indecent behavior with a juvenile. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to indecent behavior with a juvenile and molestation of a juvenile.

Click here to read about the trial.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, the mother of one of the victims testified that Reed, whom she had known since she was a young girl, used “manipulation tactics” to gain her trust and allow him to take in her son. As a single mother who lived out of state, she said, she was reaching out to find help for her troubled son.

“At that point I gave Terry the opportunity to be the grandfather figure that he long wanted to be,” she said in victim-impact testimony. Instead, he isolated her son from others and sexually abused her son.

Reed knew that she, too, was sexually abused as a child. “His actions triggered the deepest wound of my childhood. I felt profoundly betrayed.”

“I’m deeply disappointed because I trusted Terry to do the right thing,” she testified.

She read a victim-impact letter on behalf of her son, who was not present for Thursday’s hearing. “It is done. It is over. And I couldn’t be more glad,” he wrote.

“You disgust me,” he wrote. “And when I saw you in court, I saw an utter failure and a sorry excuse for a man.”

After rejecting four defense motions to overturn the verdict and get a new trial, Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Reed to 25 years for each of the third-degree rape charges, to be served at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence; and to 15 years in prison for each of the molestation charges.

Judge Steib ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 80 years.

Assistant District Attorneys James Wascom and Eric Cusimano prosecuted the case. Assistant District Attorney Theresa King handled the sentencing hearing.

 

Michael Pampas sentenced to life in prison for raping 12-year-old child

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (May 27) sentenced Michael Pampas to life in prison for his conviction of raping a 12-year-old he contacted using a social media app before eventually videorecording himself as he sexually abused the child.

Pampas, 31, of Harvey, was convicted last week of first-degree rape of a juvenile under age 13, indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13 and production of pornography involving a child under age 13.

He met the child during a swimming party at an apartment complex in Kenner in 2024. Members of the child’s family notified police in August 2024 after learning of Pampas’ recording of an inappropriate sexual call through Snapchat.

As the investigation unfolded, detectives learned that Pampas used his cell phone to videorecord himself sexually abusing the child. He saved the video on Google Drive. These acts are the basis for the first-degree rape and pornography convictions.

He also recorded two video calls with the child that were sexual in nature, leading to the indecent behavior conviction.

The victim’s grandmother, in victim-impact testimony Wednesday, said the child faces “many years of therapy,” and must live with the memory of Pampas’ abuse for life. “It will never, ever, ever go away,” she said. “The experience, it will never go away. The thought of what happened will always be there.

“I want the book thrown at him,” she said in asking for the maximum sentences. “I want him to suffer every day. I don’t want him to ever see the light of day. I never want him to hurt anyone else.”

The punishment for first-degree rape in Louisiana is life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court noted that she has no discretion in deviating from that punishment. “And if I did, I’m not sure I would exercise it,” she said.

“I must say, to be subjected to watch the video that you made was particularly disturbing for me,” Judge Miller told Pampas. “And unfortunately, I knew what was coming. I knew there was a video.

“Those 14 people that sat there, that had to watch that, they came to do their jury service,” Judge Miller said of the 12 jurors and two alternates who sat through the trial. “They came to do their civic duty because they are good citizens of this parish. And little did they know they would be watching an actual video-taped rape of a 12-year-old. They’re affected by your actions as well, and they will be forever changed as well.”

In addition to the life sentence for the rape, Judge Miller sentenced Pampas to 20 years for indecent behavior and 50 years for the child pornography conviction, both to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. She ran the sentences concurrently.

Pampas also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, the judge ordered.

Assistant District Attorneys Mallory Grefer and Erich Cathey prosecuted the case.