Woman raped in unmonitored drug sting sues police handlers

A law enforcement informant raped twice throughout an undercover drug buy in Louisiana has filed a lawsuit alleging her legislation enforcement handlers failed to keep an eye on her in serious time and allowed the attack to “play out” even with issues in excess of how prolonged she was inside a recognised stash house.

The match submitted this 7 days in Alexandria alleges Rapides Parish sheriff’s deputies “coerced” the woman into working as a confidential informant right after her arrest on felony drug costs and unsuccessful to preserve their promise to safeguard her if a order went bad.

The January 2021 incident was the matter of an Linked Press investigation that highlighted the perils police informants face searching for to “work off” felony rates in normally loosely regulated, secretive arrangements with regulation enforcement.

The woman’s attacker, Antonio D. Jones, was convicted of rape in November 2022 and later on sentenced to 10 years in jail. Prosecutors not long ago questioned a choose to reconsider that sentence, declaring it “deprecates the seriousness” of the rape and Jones’ considerable felony record.

The woman wore a hidden digicam that recorded Jones forcing her to complete oral sexual intercourse on him 2 times in an assault so brazen he paused at one place to perform a separate drug offer.

Authorities claimed the unit did not transmit the assault in true time, but industry experts advised AP the technological innovation to watch undercover transactions has existed for generations and really should have been used to protect the girl in this case.

The lawsuit alleges that deputies waiting close by feared for the woman’s safety mainly because she was in the household much too very long and that one, Deputy Cassie Jolene Saucier, regarded as likely in right before in the long run choosing to let the undercover offer to “play out.”

Neither Saucier nor Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wooden quickly responded to messages looking for remark. The lawsuit also names retired Lt. Mark Parker, the position formal overseeing the procedure, who advised AP last year that the sheriff’s business didn’t begin employing tools able of checking in authentic time until finally after the woman’s rape and usually despatched informants into stings with no any recording devices at all.

“We’ve always carried out it this way,” Parker reported. “She was an addict and we just utilised her as an informant like we have done a million situations right before. Hunting again, it’s quick to say, ‘What if?’”

The lawsuit says the girl “has experienced severe psychological discomfort and distress” from possessing to testify about the rape in open up court. She, much too, did not straight away react to a ask for to discuss to AP, which normally does not identify victims of sexual assault.