Louisiana Pastor Gets Two Years For Child Cruelty

New Orleans’ CBS affiliate reports:

A pastor in Slidell was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation for taping the mouths of three students shut while serving as headmaster of a Christian school.

John Raymond, formerly in charge of Lakeside Christian School in Slidell, was convicted of cruelty to juveniles after authorities said he disciplined the students for talking too much in class.

Police said he removed them from the classroom and used packing tape to silence them. One student suffocated to the point where their body went limp, according to the district attorney.

The Shreveport Times reported in September 2023:

Louisiana’s Republican Party has endorsed John Raymond, who is charged with four counts of criminal cruelty to juveniles, in his bid to win a state House seat in St. Tammany Parish. Raymond, lead minister of New Horizon Church in Slidell and founder of Lakeside Christian Academy, was arrested twice in 2022 on juvenile cruelty charges related to discipline he is accused of carrying out in his role as headmaster at the school.

Raymond lost that year’s nonpartisan primary by 30 points. In 2002, he was the first contestant voted off the island on “Survivor: Thailand.” He has blamed his conviction on “cancel culture.”