SERVING ASCENSION, ASSUMPTION & ST. JAMES PARISHES

Gonzales Man Pleads Guilty to Indecent Behavior and Computer Aided Solicitation

          On May 8, 2017, Justin Sepeda of 13502 Airline Hwy Gonzales, LA., age 27, pled guilty to Computer Aided Solicitation of a Minor and Indecent Behavior with a Juvenile. Sepeda was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Shawn Bush, and presiding over this matter was the Honorable Judge Thomas Kliebert. This guilty plea was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors following an online undercover investigation conducted by the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit.                     

          On August 10, 2016, investigators with the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit began an online undercover investigation targeting child predators. An investigator posing as a 15 year old female, made contact with a male subject who was using online sources to look for sex. The investigator engaged in conversation with the male subject and even made him aware that he was chatting with a 15 year old girl. The suspect who was later identified as Justin Sepeda knowingly spoke to and attempted to entice whom he believed was a 15 year old girl into sexual intercourse and lewd conduct. Sepeda also sent lewd photographs to the investigator whom he reasonably believed was a 15 year old girl. A search warrant was executed on Sepeda’s Gonzales Residence and he was subsequently arrested and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail. 

          Upon entering a guilty plea to the above mentioned charges, as per the plea agreement with prosecutors, Judge Kliebert ordered that Sepeda be committed to the Louisiana Department of Corrections for a period of 5 years at hard labor with credit for time served on each count. It was further ordered that the imposed sentences are to run concurrent with one another and be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Upon release, Sepeda must register and notify as a sex offender or child predator in accordance with Louisiana law.