A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (June 16) sentenced former Grand Isle town councilman Elgene Gary Sr. to 45 years in prison for his conviction of molesting two juvenile girls on the barrier island. He abused one of the victims decades ago, when she was a child.
Gary, 81, who also was a Grand Isle policeman and member of the port commission, was convicted by a jury on May 29 of three counts of sexual battery. Two of the counts involve the same victim, one for before her 13th birthday and one after.
Click here to read about the trial.
Louisiana State Police opened the investigation in October 2021, after one of the victims, then 16, reported that Gary began molesting her beginning when she was 7 years old.
The investigation led a 40-year-old woman to come forward in January 2022, saying Gary abused her, too, on one occasion when she was between 7 and 10 years old. Additionally, the jurors who convicted Gary at trial heard testimony from another adult woman who said he abused her, too, in Michigan when she was a child.
The victim whose complaint led to Gary’s conviction told the court in victim-impact testimony on Monday that, “I’ve lived not even 20 years, and so much of them have been filled with a lot of difficulties.”
“It’s still hard to look into the mirror, because if I look too long, I see someone who was very young and didn’t know what was happening,” she said of being sexually abused as a child. “I’m so sorry for her and sorry for everyone else who has ever met him. It’s going to take a long time to not hate myself for not knowing sooner. It wasn’t my fault, I know that.”
She asked that Gary received the maximum punishment.
Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Gary to 25 years for sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and 10 years for each of the two sexual battery charges. She ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 45 years.
To the victim who provided impact testimony Monday, Judge Kovach said she’s “an extremely brave woman” who “put an end to what other women have experienced.”
The judge acknowledged that the victim asked for the maximum sentence. “Given that he is (81) years old and has numerous health issues, I believe this is a life sentence,” Judge Kovach told her.
Gary also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He also is barred from having any contact with his victims for 100 years.
Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.