PONCHATOULA (LA)
Click2Houston
POSTED: 1:17 pm CDT May 18, 2005
UPDATED: 1:59 pm CDT May 18, 2005
PONCHATOULA, La. -- Sheriff's deputies in Louisiana made a third arrest Wednesday in the ongoing investigation of a case involving allegations of sexual abuse of children and animals at a Ponchatoula, La., church.
Austin Aaron Bernard III, 36, was arrested on a charge of aggravated rape of a child under the age of 13. Police said Bernard confessed to detectives that he had sex with a young girl in November 2002 and admitted to knowing about sexual acts involving children and a dog that occurred at Hosanna Church.
Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy Christopher Blair Labat, 24, was booked Tuesday on one count of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature.
On Monday, Louis Lamonica, 45, the former pastor of Hosanna Church, was booked with two counts of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature after he walked in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office and said he could implicate others in a situation at the church that reportedly occurred two years ago.
All three are being held without bond.