On March 20, 2017, Jerry Rutherford of 42245 Moody Dixon Rd. Prairieville, LA., age 56, pled guilty to Unlawful Use of a Social Networking Website. Rutherford was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Joni Buquoi, and presiding over this matter was the Honorable Judge Jessie LeBlanc. This guilty plea was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors following a 2016 investigation conducted by Agents with the Louisiana Department of Probation and Parole. 

          On August 15, 2016, Agents with the Louisiana Department of Probation and Parole traveled to the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, which was being used as a shelter for victims of the Great Flood of 2016, to see if any registered sex offenders were in the shelter. Agents made contact with Rutherford who was convicted of Indecent Behavior with a Juvenile in 2015. On this charge, Rutherford was sentenced to 7 years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections with credit for time served. It was ordered that 6 years of the imposed sentence were to be suspended. Rutherford was ordered to served 1 year in jail and upon release be placed on 5 years supervised probation. Upon making contact with Rutherford, Agents determined that he had access to and was using an active Facebook account. It should be noted that Louisiana law prohibits convicted and registered sex offenders to use social networking websites. Rutherford was arrested and transported to the Ascension Parish Jail where he was booked accordingly. 

          Upon entering a guilty plea to the above charge, as per the plea agreement with prosecutors, Judge LeBlanc ordered that Rutherford be committed to the Louisiana Department of Corrections for a period of 6 years with credit for time served. It was further ordered that Rutherford’s probation for the Indecent Behavior With a Juvenile charge is to be revoked, and Rutherford is to be committed to the Louisiana Department of Corrections for the remaining 6 years of the imposed sentence. The two sentences are to run concurrent with one another.