LOUISIANA
Court TV
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
Authorities in the small, rural Louisiana town of Ponchatoula were shocked when a local pastor walked into their office in mid-May and allegedly confessed to having sex with children, cats and dogs at his Hosanna Church.
Louis Lamonica allegedly implicated eight other members of his flock, including a deputy sheriff, in "cult-like" rituals involving the rape of as many as 24 young victims, from infants to teens, between 1999 and 2003.
But lawyers for the nine codefendants, ages 24 to 55, say that, not only are their clients innocent but they are the victims of a brainwashing scheme.
"There is absolutely no evidence, medical or otherwise, to suggest that there is any truth to these allegations," said A. Wayne Smith, lawyer for codefendant Allen Pierson, who pleaded not guilty in June to four counts of aggravated rape of a child under 13.