Category: What’s New

Harvey Hustler associate sentenced to 35 years in quintuple shooting

Days after he was sentenced for federal homicide and narcotics charges, a Waggaman drug dealer tied to the notorious Harvey Hustlers street gang was sentenced in state court on Monday (April 25) to 35 years in prison for a West Jefferson shooting that injured three toddlers and two women. None of the five injured victims was an intended target of the gunfire.

Frankie Hookfin Jr., 24, who was part of an offshoot to the Harvey Hustlers, pleaded guilty in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court earlier this year to five counts of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and aggravated flight. His sentencing was postponed to Monday, as Hookfin’s guilty pleas in state and federal court were a result of the coordinated effort between the United States Attorney’s Office and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.

Those charges stem from his involvement in a shooting at the Lapalco Apartments in the 2300 block of Lapalco Boulevard in Harvey on April 22, 2013. Hookfin and a second gunman stood outside an apartment door about 4:20 a.m., and opened fire, authorities said.

Immediately after the shooting, Hookfin led police on a chase across the Crescent City Connection into downtown New Orleans, where he wrecked his car at the Earhart Boulevard exit. Hookfin was injured after jumping or falling from the exit ramp to the ground below, authorities said.

Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted Hookfin’s guilty plea on Jan. 19, handed down the 35-year sentence on Monday. Judge Sullivan ran the sentence concurrently with a 35-year prison sentenced Hookfin received last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office originally charged Hookfin and three others with the attempted murders, but later dismissed the charges against two of them. The third man, Charlie Gumms, was among the 21 defendants charged in a superseding indictment last year, in connection with the Harvey Hustlers narcotics distribution ring.

Gumms, 20, of Terrytown, pleaded guilty on Feb. 1, to five counts of attempted second-degree murder for the Lapalco Apartments shooting, racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute heroin. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Hookfin was not included in that 21-defendant Harvey Hustler case, because the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans charged him with the same narcotics-related activities in federal court last year.

Hookfin pleaded guilty on Sept. 22, to charges of causing a death through the use of firearms and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin. In connection with that plea, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Africk sentenced Hookfin on Thursday (April 21) to 35 years in prison.

In that case, Hookfin admitted he was among four men who on Feb. 11, 2013, went to Marrero looking to kill a rival to their narcotics ring, “Buddy Boy,” federal prosecutors say in court documents. Hookfin and others, went to a house in the 6100 block of August Avenue and opened fire as they walked down the street, causing several people outside to flee.

Emeal Washington, 58, who was visiting a friend at the house, was shot dead as he ran, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said at the time. Gunmen fired 81 bullets.

On Feb. 13, 2013, Hookfin was among the same group that went to Bridge City to attack another rival to their narcotics ring. Hookfin and two others stormed the house, kicking in the front door and opening fire, authorities said.

Doretha Richardson, 81, whose grandson was the target in the home invasion, was shot and killed in her kitchen. Hookfin also shot a cohort, Isaac Smith, in the back during that crime, federal prosecutors say.

Hookfin also admitted he was among the shooters at two other incidents, including the Jan. 12, 2013, shooting of a man who purchased heroin from the narcotics ring using fake $100 bills, federal prosecutors say. In that incident, the victim, his girlfriend and their two children led the gunmen on a car chase that ended at a store parking lot, where the gunmen opened fire. No one died in that incident.

Then, on Feb. 11, 2013, just before Washington was killed in Marrero, Hookfin and cohorts shot at another man, federal prosecutors say.

Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese prosecuted Hookfin in the state case. Freese and Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute worked on the Harvey Hustler cases with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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Metairie man sentenced to 50 years in prison for molesting 5-year-old girl

A 63-year-old Metairie man was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Thursday (April 21), for molesting a 5-year-old girl who lived near his apartment building.

Mario Chavez was convicted as charged last week of sexual battery involving a victim under age 13. A Honduran immigrant who needed an interpreter to understand court proceedings, he lured the child into the bedroom of his Rye Street apartment on June 20, 2014.

The crime carries a punishment of 25 years to 99 years in prison. Judge Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the case, denied a defense request for a new trial and ordered that at least 25 years of the that sentence be served without probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Additionally, Chavez will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life if he is ever released from prison.

After molesting the child, Chavez told her to say nothing. However, she went home and told her mother, triggering an investigation that led to Chavez’s arrest that day. DNA evidence obtained from a partial public hair and skin cells confirmed the child’s accusations, according to trial testimony.

The child told authorities she knew Chavez as “Mario,” from seeing him outside her apartment while she playing, according to evidence presented during the trial.

The victim and her family did not attend Thursday’s sentencing hearing to offer impact testimony.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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Metairie man faces 25 to 99 years for conviction of sexually abusing 5-year-old girl

A 63-year-old Metairie man was convicted as charged on Thursday (April 14) of the sexual battery of a 5-year-old girl who lived near her family’s apartment.

Mario Chavez faces at least 25 years in prison for bringing the child into his Rye Street apartment where he committed the crime on June 20, 2014. Chavez, a Honduran immigrant who needed an interpreter to understand the testimony, was linked to the crime through DNA evidence and witness testimony.

The jury deliberated about 38 minutes in convicting Chavez as charged of sexual battery involving a child under age 13, which has a sentencing range of 25 years to 99 years in prison. Judge Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court will hand down Chavez’s punishment on April 21.

The child, then a pre-kindergarten student, was familiar with Chavez from seeing the man she called “Mario” while playing with another girl at the apartment building, she told Erika Dupépé, executive director of the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center. Jurors were shown a video recording of the forensic interview Dupépé conducted with the child in 2014.

The child told Dupépé that Chavez brought her into a bathroom and then to a bedroom, where the abuse happened. “And then I kept on telling him to stop.  And he didn’t listen,” the child told Dupépé.

“He told me not to tell anyone, but I told my mom,” she said.

The child then ran home to her mother, falling down on the way. When her mother lifted the child’s dress to search for injuries, she noted that both the girl’s legs were in one leg opening of her panties, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The child’s mother testified on Wednesday that after finding her daughter in disarray, she went to confront her neighbor. “I told him the little girl accused him of touching her,” the mother, also a native of Honduras, testified through an interpreter.  “He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘But the little girl said it was you.’”

She testified that when Chavez went to touch her daughter’s head during the confrontation, the child retreated nervously. “She backed up scared behind me,” the mother testified.  “So her reaction, I didn’t like it.”

The child’s older sister testified she was in their apartment when she noticed the child crying. She eventually learned of the abuse allegation against Chavez.  “We asked (her) if he’s the right guy,” the sister testified, speaking of Chavez.  “She was pointing him out, saying that’s him.”

Sheriff’s Office detective Sgt. Terri Danna, then of the Personal Violence Unit, testified that the girl made “a disclosure” as to what occurred and “pointed to the upstairs bedroom” in saying where the abuse happened.

“She was very descriptive of what was in that bedroom,” Danna testified. The victim was able to accurately describe the striped sheets and a pillow on the bed, another bed on the floor, the TV on a nightstand, a calendar on the wall, and a crucifix next to the calendar.

The mother also found a piece of a pubic hair in the child’s panties, which she kept in a plastic sandwich bag as evidence for police, the mother testified.

Because the piece of hair did not include the follicle, which is more conducive to DNA testing, authorities sent the evidence to a lab in Virginia, Bode Cellmark Forensics, for mitochondrial testing.

Adrienne Broges, of Bode Cellmark Forensics, was qualified to testify as an expert in mitochondrial DNA analysis. She told jurors that Chavez could not be excluded as the contributor. However, she testified that based upon her calculations, less than one percent – specifically 0.691 percent – of the population would have the same DNA profile.

Chavez, who denied the accusation, was arrested and had been held awaiting trial in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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Kenner man sentenced to 35 years in prison for armed robbery

A Kenner man who pleaded guilty last month to robbing a Kenner business was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Thursday (April 14).

Terrance C. Williams, 27, admitted that he went to the Chevron store at 181 West Airline Drive about 1 a.m., on Jan. 29, 2015, and demanded that the clerk give him cash from the register.

The clerk initially thought he was joking and turned away to stock merchandise, according to the Kenner Police Department. That’s when Williams brandished a small black pistol that was in his right pocket, police said. The clerk complied and handed over about $325 in cash, according to the arrest affidavit.

Williams then fled on a bicycle. About four hours later, Kenner police officers were patrolling the 500 block of Salvador Road when they saw Williams with a bicycle matching the robber’s. The clerk, who told police the robber had tattoos on his face, was driven to Salvador Road, where she identified him as the man who robbed her. Williams has numerous tattoos on his face.

He pleaded guilty on March 9 to charges of armed robbery and obscenity. The latter charge stems from an incident in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, where on Feb. 20, 2015 he exposed his genitals.

Yet on Thursday, when he was scheduled to be sentenced, Williams asked to withdraw his guilty plea. “I didn’t understand what I was signing at the time,” Williams told the judge of the plea form.

Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted the plea last month, told Williams that by withdrawing the plea he potentially faced life in prison as a career offender if he went to trial and was convicted, given his past criminal convictions.

Judge Enright also noted the discussion he had with Williams during the guilty plea on March 9, as well as his signing the plea forms. “In this court’s estimation, Mr. Williams did understand” his guilty plea, Enright said.

Judge Enright declined to allow Williams to withdraw the plea. He the sentenced Williams to 35 years for the armed robbery and three years for the obscenity. The sentences were run concurrently.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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Harvey Hustler associate sentenced to 20 years in prison in racketeering case

A Terrytown man tied to the violent Harvey Hustlers gang that trafficked narcotics on West Jefferson streets was sentenced on Thursday (April 7) to 20 years in prison.

Charles D. Gumms, 22, received the punishment for his Feb. 16 guilty plea to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute Tramadol. He received a total of 20 years in prison for those offenses.

Gumms also pleaded guilty on Thursday to being a double offender under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, in light of his 2013 conviction of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. His sentence as a double offender was 20 years, run concurrently with his punishment for the racketeering and narcotics offenses.

Gumms was one of 21 people named in a 30-count indictment filed in state court last year, charging Harvey Hustlers and their affiliates in a sweeping racketeering case built around crack cocaine and heroin distribution ring. Gumms was among the last of those defendants to either plead guilty or be convicted at trial.

Although he pleaded guilty on Feb. 16, his sentencing was postponed to Thursday, until after he received his punishment in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for probation violation. He pleaded guilty in January 2013 to an illegal gun possession charge and two misdemeanor offenses.

For the probation revocation, he was sentenced to three years in prison by an Orleans Parish judge on March 28.

Jefferson Parish’s Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the Harvey Hustler cases, ran the 20-year sentence he handed down on Thursday concurrently with the three years he received for the probation revocation.

Two months before he was indicted in the Harvey Hustlers case, Gumms was shot several times in Terrytown. He and Shamyra Plumer, 18, were in his car in the 2100 block of Esplanade Place in Terrytown, when a gunman or gunmen opened fire.

Gumms drove to a convenience store at Terry Parkway and Carol Sue Avenue, where he ran inside the business and collapsed, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Deputies’ found Plummer’s body in the back seat of the car.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute prosecuted the cases.

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Former Mississippi auctioneer ordered to pay $261,800 in restitution to Kenner

A Mississippi man who was convicted of stealing $511,000 in auction proceeds from the City of Kenner must repay the city $261,729 in restitution, a state district judge ruled on Wednesday (April 6), increasing the $80,000 amount previously set by a now-retired judge.

James Durham, 44, of Hattiesburg, who with his father owned the now-defunct Durham Auctions, pleaded guilty to theft in August 2014, in connection with the work the company did for Kenner in 2008. Durham Auctions oversaw the sale of $511,729 in surplus municipal property but never gave the proceeds to the city.

Durham and his father, Donald Durham, were charged with theft by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office. Then-Judge Ross LaDart of the 24th Judicial District Court, who has since retired, dismissed the charge against the father during the February 2014 trial.

Judge LaDart then granted the defense request to recess the son’s case before the trial ended. At the time, Durham was serving parole for a worthless checks conviction in an unrelated conviction in Mississippi.

Six months later, Durham was back in Jefferson Parish, where he pleaded guilty to the theft charge. Judge LaDart suspended a two-year prison sentence and ordered Durham to serve five years of probation.

On the question of restitution, LaDart ordered Durham to repay the city only $80,000, calling the full restitution amount the state sought to be “excessive.”

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office objected to the amount and succeeded in persuading the state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal to reverse LaDart’s decision.

Judge LaDart set the amount after hearing testimony and argument tied to Durham’s financial woes, which included $300,000 in restitution in Mississippi. “Mississippi just got to his wallet before this court will,” Judge LaDart ruled.

The 5th Circuit dismissed LaDart’s reasoning on Oct. 14, 2015, finding that while the Mississippi restitution “may be a valid consideration in determining the manner in which defendant should repay the restitution owed in this case, it should be of no consequence to the amount of restitution ordered” in the Kenner case.

“Given all these circumstances, we find that under the facts of this case, $80,000 is not a reasonable amount of restitution, and the trial court abused its discretion in setting restitution in that amount,” 5th Circuit Judge Robert Chaisson wrote for the panel that included Judges Robert Murphy and Stephen Windhorst.

The appellate court sent the case back to the district court for reconsideration. By then, Judge LaDart had retired, meaning his elected successor, Judge Danyelle Taylor, had to handle the matter. She heard argument and accepted evidence during a Jan. 13 hearing and took the matter under advisement until Wednesday.

Judge Taylor said she arrived at the $261,729.29 amount in considering that the Durhams’ Mississippi bank “wrongfully seized” $250,000 of Kenner’s $511,729 that was held in escrow. The bank’s action was unrelated to the Kenner matter. The judge ordered Durham to pay $1,800 in monthly installments.

Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute, who prosecuted the case, objected to the amount Taylor set.

The city of Kenner also sued the Durhams civilly in a Mississippi court in an attempt to recoup its monetary losses. The Durhams, however, had declared bankruptcy. Kenner recouped only $80,000, “which did not even cover the total amount of legal fees incurred,” the 5th Circuit noted.

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National Crime Victims’ Rights Week 2016 to bring march, balloon release

National Crime Victims' Rights Week begins on Sunday (April 10).
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week begins on Sunday (April 10).

 

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office is joining with Silence Is Violence and other agencies in sponsoring the annual National Crime Victims’ Rights Week events in the New Orleans area, including a march through the Faubourg Marigny and French Quarter and a memorial balloon release over Bayou St. John.

Agencies across the United States will be observing the week, April 10-16, drawing the public’s attention to the traumatically emotional, physical and financial burdens that crime victims are forced to carry. The week also highlights the rights crime victims and witnesses to crimes have. Louisiana recognizes them in its Crime Victim Bill of Rights.

This year’s theme is “Serving Victims, Building Trust, Restoring Hope,” underscoring the importance of early intervention and victim services in establishing trust with victims. That, in turn, begins to restore their home for healing and recovery, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crimes, which coordinates National Crime Victims’ Rights Week nationwide.

“My entire staff and I support and recognize this annual commemorative event,” Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick, Jr. said. “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is a unique opportunity to celebrate the tremendous progress made on behalf of victims.”

Tamara Jackson, executive director of Silence is Violence, said she’s excited to partner with the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office this year.

“Our partnership will address specific needs of victims and their families,” Jackson said. “Our goal is to establish working relationships to better serve crime victims by building trust and restoring hope.”

Marilyn McCoy Roberts, acting director for the Office for Victims of Crimes, said in a message to providers of victims’ services that this year’s theme underscores the importance of establishing trust with victims and reaching socially, economically and geographically isolated people.

“If victims are to trust that the system will work for them, we must meet them where they are – physically, culturally and emotionally,” Roberts said. “By serving victims, building trust and restoring hope, the field can more effectively help victims as they rebuild their lives.”

The week stems from the movement that began more than three decades ago to recognize victims of crime.

Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, which partners with the Justice Department in highlighting the week, said this year’s theme “reminds us of the significant progress we have made in recognizing victims’ rights and at the same time emphasizes the need to expand our reach to marginalized, isolated, and other victims who are less likely to seek recovery services on their own.”

“We know that early intervention – addressing victimization when it occurs – is critical and can improve victim recovery and prevent future victimization,” Fernandez said.

In the New Orleans area, this year’s events include:

  • The Tutu Walk for Sexual Assault Awareness, 6 p.m., on Tuesday (April 12). The walk begins and ends at Port and Chartres streets in Faubourg Marigny and takes marchers through the French Quarter. The route will follow Royal Street to Bienville Street in the French Quarter, and Bourbon to Toulouse streets, then to Decatur Street past the French Market to Elysian Fields and Chartres back to Port Street.
  • Purple & Blue Peace Day, on Wednesday (April 13). Supporters are asked to wear purple or blue in support of women and children abuse prevention.
  • “Drinks for a Cause” on Thursday (April 14), 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at The Rusty Nail, 1100 Constance St., New Orleans.
  • A memorial balloon release on Friday (April 15), at 6:30 p.m., at Orleans Avenue and North Jefferson Davis Parkway.
  • A prayer vigil at 2 p.m., on Saturday (April 16), at Marr Avenue and Donner Drive in Algiers. It honors Kenneth Hall, 27, who was shot to death while in his pickup truck near the intersection on June 21, 2015.

Additionally, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office Victim-Witness Unit will provide information and resources all week from a static display in the Jefferson Parish Government Center’s atrium in Gretna, at 200 Derbigny St.

Other agencies involved with Silence is Violence in this year’s events include the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department’s Victim-Witness Unit, the New Orleans Forensic Center and The Family Leadership Training Institute.

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Metairie man pleads guilty to possession of child pornography

A Metairie man averted his trial for possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 on Monday (April 4), by pleading guilty as charged in exchange for a five-year prison sentence.

William Shiell, 49, also will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years beginning with his release from prison, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court ordered in accepting the guilty plea.

Shiell had been free from jail since posting a $15,000 bond on the day after his May 24, 2012 arrest by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The judge allowed Shiell to huddle with his tearful family in the courtroom before he was fingerprinted and taken away in handcuffs to begin his prison sentence.

Sheriff’s Office Detective Nick Vega, working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was investigating an online peer-to-peer sharing website where child pornography is known to be shared, authorities said. The detective tracked illegal activities to Shiell’s home computer, where he found videos and images of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexual acts.

Shiell was scheduled to stand trial this week when he opted to plead guilty in exchange for the least amount of prison time the law allows for the crime. At the time of his arrest, possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 carried a punishment of five years to 20 years in prison.

Just months later, in August 2012, Louisiana doubled its punishment for possession of child pornography involving children under age 13 to 10 years to 40 years in prison.

The Internet Crimes Against Children program is funded by the U.S. Justice Department and involves local, state and federal law enforcement agencies working in 61 task forces nationwide that root out child predators on the Internet.

Assistant District Attorney Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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‘Sovereign citizen’ burglar sentenced to 10 years in prison

A man already serving a six-month jail term for refusing to answer a judge’s questions during his trial last month was sentenced Monday (April 4) to 10 years in prison for burglarizing a Metairie widow’s home and then was caught the same day with her stolen jewelry.

Sean Stock, who turned 29 years old on Monday, was convicted of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling and possession of stolen things on March 23. Among the items he stole was the engagement ring and wedding band that belonged to her husband, who died on Good Friday of 2014, according to trial testimony.

Stock broke into the woman’s home on 47th Street near South Causeway Boulevard during the weekend of June 20, 2015.

Stock was familiar with the home because he previously was hired to perform odd jobs there, including removing a tree, according to testimony. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office focused on him as a suspect after the homeowner overheard deputies mention Stock’s name and she recalled having hired him to do the work, she testified.

After rejecting two requests to toss out the verdicts and hearing a lengthy and emotional defense plea for lenience for the father of a 4-year-old boy, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Stock to 10 years on each count. She ran the sentences concurrently.

As his trial was beginning, Stock, who had a public defender appointed to his case, announced he wanted to act has his own attorney in disclosing an affiliation with the sovereign citizens movement, whose members refuse to recognize laws or pay taxes.

As the judge questioned him in connection with his request, Stock responded only that he was the attorney for his own corporation, an assertion indicative of the sovereign citizens movement. His non-responsiveness led Judge Kovach to find him in contempt of court and sentence him a six-month jail term.

Just before she announced her sentence for the convictions on Monday, Stock apologized for his courtroom disturbance. “I look back,” he said. “I was rude. I do want to apologize for that.”

Judge Kovach said she planned to run the 6-month jail term consecutively to the sentencings but opted to run it concurrently in light of his apology.

Stock’s punishment could be increased because of his 2004 conviction of carjacking, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. Prosecutors are seeking a sentencing enhancement under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, meaning his sentence for the burglary could increase to 24 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton and Andrew DeCoste prosecuted the case.

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DA’s Office diversion counselor presents lecture at national conference

Desislava Atlazova, a counselor in the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office Pre-Trial Adult Diversion Program, has been selected to present a lecture during the Law and Ethics in Counseling Conference 2016.

Held annually, the conferences bring together counselor educators, counseling graduate students and counseling practitioners from across the United States to review the latest trends and developments in the areas of law and ethics in counseling, according to event organizers.

Atlazova and fellow doctoral student Dustin Reed will present “Counseling, Boundary Issues, Multiple Relationships and Ethics,” during the weeklong conference. The presentation touches on a range of ethical matters, from touching in therapy to prohibited relationships.

A native of Bulgaria who immigrated to the United States 10 years ago, Atlazova, P.L.P.C., N.C.C., is a doctoral student in counseling at the University of Holy Cross in Algiers, formerly Our Lady of Holy Cross College. She holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the University of New Orleans and has been employed at the District Attorney’s Office for more than two years.

The University of Holy Cross is hosting this year’s conference, began on Sunday Sunday (April 3) through Thursday at the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat Center in Metairie. A conference committee selects who’ll speak at the events.

Atlazova’s presentation is 10:15 a.m., on Thursday (April 7).

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