CONTENT WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC INFORMATION INVOLVING SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A MINOR. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
LACOMBE, La. (WGNO) — On March 31, 2022, the Warren Montgomery District Attorney announced that a man pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and aggravated battery.
22-year-old Cedric Cortez McClendon from Lacombe pleaded guilty on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
According to court records, District Judge William H. Burris sentenced McClendon to 20 years for the Second-Degree Rape and 10 years for the Aggravated Battery.
Records show that the incident happened on February 19, 2018, Slidell Police were dispatched to a home in Slidell, in reference to a reported simple battery.
When officers arrived, a 13-year-old victim told officers that earlier that day she was walking towards the home of a friend, when Defendant, then 18 years old, started shouting “come here” repeatedly to her.
The victim tried to avoid him, but he grabbed her by the arm and struck her in the face and upper body.
According to police reports, the teen was able to escape and call the police.
Police interviewed the 13-year-olds father and said he had been told by a friend that they’d seen the victim and the defendant inside of an abandoned house in the neighborhood on several occasions.
Officers went to the location and found condom wrappers and used condoms.
Later police learned, the victim did not tell her father everything.
Later in the investigation, she told officers that McClendon had beat her with a piece of wood on one occasion and that there were multiple occasions when he beat her and forced her to have sex. She also stated that he’d threaten to kill himself if she wouldn’t cooperate.
McClendon admitted to having sex with the underage victim on numerous occasions and to a physical altercation when police interviewed him.
In a statement, McClendon said “When I get mad, bro, she gets scared and she f***s me. That’s not my fault.”
The victim read her impact statement to the Court and directed it to McClendon.
“I would like to be able to forgive you…but I can’t because you are evil.”