Louisiana woman raped during drug sting while working as informant sues police handlers
The lawsuit claims Louisiana law enforcement handlers failed to monitor the informant in real time during a drug buy inside a stash house
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A police informant raped twice during an undercover drug buy in Louisiana is suing her law enforcement handlers for failing to monitor her in real time, which she says allowed the rapes to take place.
The lawsuit claims that Rapides Parish sheriff’s deputies "coerced" the woman into working as a confidential informant after she was arrested on felony drug charges and failed to keep their promise to protect her if a purchase went bad.
The rapes occurred in January 2021 and the alleged attacker, Antonio D. Jones, was convicted in November 2022. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MAINE AG SAYS DEPUTY WAS LEGALLY JUSTIFIED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF ARMED 16-YEAR-OLD
This photo taken Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, shows the house in Alexandria, La., where a female informant on an undercover drug operation was allegedly raped as her law enforcement handlers left her on her own in January 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
The woman was wearing a hidden camera that recorded Jones forcing her to perform oral sex twice. At one point, he paused to allegedly conduct a separate drug deal.
Deputies waiting nearby feared the woman was in the Alexandria stash house where the rape took place for too long, with one considering going in before ultimately deciding to allow the undercover deal to "play out."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A retired deputy, Lt. Mark Parker, the ranking official overseeing the operation, told The Associated Press last year that the sheriff’s office didn’t start using equipment capable of monitoring in real time until after the woman’s rape and often sent informants into stings without any recording equipment at all.
This photo provided by the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office in September 2022, shows Antonio D. Jones. (Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
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"We’ve always done it this way," Parker said. "She was an addict and we just used her as an informant like we’ve done a million times before. Looking back, it’s easy to say, ‘What if?’"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.