A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (May 29) found Elgene Gary Sr. guilty of molesting two juveniles on Grand Isle, including a woman he abused when she was a child almost four decades ago.
Gary, 81, a former elected member of the Grand Isle town council, a former member of its police department and a former member of the Grand Isle Port Commission, was convicted as charged of three counts of sexual battery. In addition to hearing testimony from the two victims, jurors heard from a woman who said he abused her as a child in Michigan more than three decades ago.
“Elgene Gary’s decades of deviant destruction are over,” Assistant District Attorney Erich Cathey told jurors in closing argument Thursday in urging them to find the defendant guilty.
Two of the sexual battery charges for which Gary was convicted involve the same victim, one for before she was 13 years of age and one after her 13th birthday (under Louisiana law, abusing a victim under age 13 carries more severe penalties).
That victim initially confided in her childhood best friend, who encouraged her to report it. That led her to then tell a caretaker.
She felt safe to report the abuse to law enforcement only after she was forced to leave Grand Isle when Hurricane Ida devastated the barrier island in August 2021. She reported it in Baton Rouge to the Louisiana State Police, whose Special Victims Unit opened the investigation in October 2021.
Then aged 16, the victim disclosed that Gary molested her beginning when she was 7 years old and continued to do so until she was 15. He told her to “be quiet,” and “this is our secret” as he abused her. When she resisted, he’d tell her, “Don’t you love me?” At times, she hid when Gary was near.
She underwent forensic interviews at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (renamed the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s hospital), and the Children’s Advocacy Services in Denham Springs.
The State Police investigation led to a 40-year-old woman coming forward in January 2022. She disclosed that Gary molested her on one occasion when she was between the ages of 7 and 10, between 1988 and 1991. Gary stopped only because her brother woke up. For that, Gary was convicted of the third count of sexual battery.
Jurors also heard testimony from a woman who said Gary abused her in Michigan in 1993, when she was 10 years old. Gary was visiting Michigan on a hunting trip at the time. Gary has not been charged in Michigan. Her testimony was allowed to be presented to the Jefferson Parish jury to show Gary’s lustful disposition toward children.
“They deserved to be believed, and they deserve justice,” Assistant District Attorney Brooke Harris told jurors Thursday in closing argument.
Gary denied the charges. His attorney argued that the state’s witnesses gave inconsistent testimony. The attorney also told jurors that detectives did not thoroughly investigate the accusations.
Rebutting the defense argument, Assistant DA Cathey told jurors that any perceived inconsistencies were “minor.” The victims “were consistent each and every time on what this man, Elgene Gary Sr., did to both of them,” he said.
The jury deliberated just over five hours to find Gary guilty of all three charges.
Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Gary on June 16.
Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.