PONCHATOULA (LA)
Telegraph
By Tom Leonard in Ponchatoula
(Filed: 03/06/2005)
In the cypress flats of Tangipahoa, a fervently religious area in the swamps north of New Orleans, local people still remember proudly how the Rev Louis Lamonica vowed to "take Tangipahoa parish for Jesus".
Thirty years later, the charismatic preacher's son and successor has certainly taken the parish by storm - but not exactly for Jesus.
In a case that has horrified Americans way beyond the Bible Belt, Louis Lamonica Jnr and eight members the Hosanna Church are accused of being members of a Satanic paedophile ring who ritually raped up to 25 children, as well as performing animal sacrifices.
Police say some of those charged - who include Lamonica's wife and a deputy sheriff - have already admitted devil worship inside the now defunct church on the outskirts of Ponchatoula, the parish's main town.
The discovery of badly rubbed-out pentagrams on the floor and eight boxes of hooded black costumes - allegedly used both in the abuse and in "morality tales" performed to prepare the young victims - bear out some of the claims.
Posted by kshaw at June 7, 2005 09:43 AM