Pastor Charged With Multiple Counts Of Child Abuse

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

John Raymond, a Slidell pastor who was accused of taping the mouths of three students at the Christian school he oversaw and beating another child, has been formally charged with four counts of cruelty to juveniles by the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Raymond, who in addition to being pastor of New Horizon church in Slidell is also on the St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee, defended his actions last spring as being appropriate discipline for the students.

Raymond said that corporal punishment is in line with Biblical teachings and said he he was a victim of cancel culture.  His attorney, Joe Long, said that Raymond will be arraigned on Dec. 2, and will enter pleas of not guilty. Long said that Raymond will not take any plea agreement.

From my May 2022 report on this guy:

Police said the new allegations include Raymond holding a 4-year-old boy upside down by his ankles and “whipping his buttocks” and in a separate incident covering the same child’s mouth and nose with his hand to stop a “tantrum.” Witnesses reported Raymond’s actions prevented the child from breathing “to the point of him going limp.” A staff member said the child was “out of it and lethargic” and “unable to stand.”

Slidell pastor who taped students’ mouths shut charged with four counts of cruelty to juveniles https://t.co/909kzhYZZz

— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) November 22, 2022