During the 1990s and early 2000s, Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, Louisiana became the home of a Satanic cult. This story would go on to inspire seaon 1 of True Detective.
In 2005, a member of the Hosanna Church, Nicole Bernard, blindly called the sheriff's office and told them about everything that had been happening behind the scenes in the church building. Two days later, Pastor Luis LaMonica Jr. waltzed into Detective Stan Carpenter's office in Livingston, Louisiana, confessing that he and others had been performing satanic rituals, had been carrying out animal sacrifices inside of his church building. He even named his fellow offenders and victims, aside from Nicole Bernard, the woman who first called in to the police to let them know about what had been happening. The list of perpetrators that the pastor gave to the police included Nicole's husband, Austin Bernard, known as the mastermind of the cult; Luis LaMonica's wife, Robin; church member Paul Fontanot; sheriff's deputy, Chris LeBot; and a woman named Trish Pearson. Now, Hosanna Church was founded by Luis LaMonica's father, Luis LaMonica Sr., over 20 years prior, and it apparently converted to Satanism in 2000. The windows of the church were painted white so that no one could see inside of the building, and dump trucks spread dirt all over the back parking lot in an attempt to "close it up" and stop people from coming in.
Major Carpenter, the detective's supervisor at the time, who LaMonica, the pastor, confessed to, stated that LaMonica walked into his office and sat down calmly as if nothing was wrong, and that he was acting as if he was just going to go on about his day after he left the station and gave his statement. He said: "Listening to him, here where we're all Christian, it kind of floored me. You're talking about a man who professes to be a preacher, a pastor, and a church leader. Children and worshiping Satan. I'm an old guy. I'm coming up to retire in a couple of years. I thought I'd seen it all, and sometimes I reckon you have seen it all, only in different ways. Then something like this happens. It stays with you."
Austin Bernard, who we said earlier was allegedly the mastermind of this satanic cult, was heavily involved in the rituals that were performed in the church building and even used his own one-year-old daughter in some of these satanic rituals; one of the members went into detail with the authorities about a ritual in which Austin's one-year-old daughter was dressed in black and was positioned in the middle of a pentagram in the middle of the floor while all the other members chanted around her to satanic music; she was then undressed in the center of the pentagram while a cat was sacrificed; its blood was then dripped all over the infant's naked body. This apparently happened every two to three months.
On other occasions, certain young girls, minors, children, would be picked by the men in the group to have relations with. The men would then line up one by one, taking their turn having relations with the chosen female child; If a woman was in line with the men, it didn't matter. She would then perform acts on the child while they pretended that: "One was the man and one was the woman."
Now, Luis LaMonica stated that he believed there could have been around 25 total victims, including children, from infants all the way to young teenagers. It was also reported by Luis LaMonica that the members defecated and urinated in the ritual room, had with animals during some of their ceremonies, and drank the fresh blood of cats. Luis LaMonica also admitted that he his own two sons, whose initials are M.L. and S.L., minors at the time. Their identities were concealed in all legal proceedings. It's beyond evil what Luis LaMonica Jr. did to his own sons.
In Luis's own words, he claimed that during these satanic rituals, he would become distorted by the devil and that demons would change him into an animal such as a snake, fox, wolf, or spider. Police in Ohio reportedly searched Nicole's storage unit and found mattresses, videos, and garbage bags full of costumes.
Louise LaMonica Jr. was charged with two counts of aggravated of a juvenile and a charge of a crime against nature.
Sheriff Edwards noted in 2005 that they were looking at at least 20 child s*** charges against members of the cult.
Dozens of videotapes, hundreds of computer disks, and eight large boxes of documents and photographs were also taken out of the church as evidence. Louise the Monica's attorney at the time, Michael Teel, told the news that he believed the case had been sensationalized and that there had been a rush to judge based on conjecture, rumors, and leaks to the media. The eight additional people that were arrested besides Louise LaMonica Jr. were Robin LaMonica, Louise's wife, who was 45 years old at the time, arrested on one charge of aggravated s**t by the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Department. Also, the Tangipahoa deputies from another jurisdiction charged Robin with two additional counts of aggravated s**t. Patricia Pearson, who was 54 years old at the time, was arrested for sexual battery and principal to aggravated b**ch of a juvenile, with two additional counts of principal to aggravated b**ch. Alan R. Pearson, 46 years old, was arrested on one count of aggravated b**ch, and Taghi Pahoa deputies charged him with three additional counts of aggravated b**ch. Chris Labatt, a former Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's deputy who was 24 at the time was arrested on one count of aggravated and charged with two additional charges of aggravated, one charge of failure to report, one charge of malfeasance in office, and one charge of child... after computers were seized from his home. He was also a former Hosanna church member arrested around the same time.
Paul Fontenot, was a 21-year-old church member at the time who was arrested on one count of aggravated . He was later charged with two counts of aggravated and one charge of aggravated incest. Nicole Bernard was arrested on one count of aggravated followed by an additional charge of aggravated . Austin Bernard, the mastermind, was also arrested for aggravated s**t of a juvenile. Luis Mowbray, former co-pastor of the church, was arrested for obstruction of justice, failure to report a felony, and accessory after the fact to aggravated s**t. So, what happened here? What was the outcome of this case?
Luis LaMonica Jr. was sentenced to life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, AKA Angola. Austin Bernard, the ringleader was also sentenced to life at Angola. Robin LaMonica and Patricia Trish Pearson avoided any prison time, and their charges were dismissed. Paul Fontenot pleaded not guilty to s*** back, battery of a juvenile, and he was initially facing a life sentence, but under the terms of his plea bargain, was only sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2009. He was released 2019 and is currently walking the streets today, despite being imprisoned for charges like aggravated... of minors and aggravated incest.
Nicole Bernard, who tried to flee, was extradited back to Louisiana and it was reported that she was also released on a plea deal. Labatt, that sheriff's deputy, his child... and other charges were all dismissed. The remaining individuals who were arrested remain a mystery.
By: Colin Browen...
Raped by: Otto Heckel
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