Rodney Vicknair: Ex-New Orleans cop gets 14 years in prison for assaulting teenage rape victim
Warning: This article contains memories of child sexual abuse that may trigger reactions in some readers. Discretion is advised.
If you or someone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline immediately at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453 , or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in over 170 languages.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: Rodney Vicknair, a former New Orleans police officer, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in a sexual assault case. Federal prosecutors claimed that in 2020, the defendant, who was a police officer, escorted a then 14-year-old victim to the hospital for a rape exam after she was assaulted by another man. Testimony indicates that Vicknair offered the victim assistance and befriended her, often visiting her without her knowledge. But after a while, he started making sexual comments and even persuaded her to send him sexually explicit photos of herself found on her phone.
Prospectors in their court documents mentioned that on September 23, 2020, when the girl was still only 15 years old, the former New Orleans cop showed up at her house and demanded that she get in his truck. As she sat in the passenger seat, Vicknair locked the door, leaned over her and “intentionally touched her genitals under her clothes”.
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U.S. District Judge Lance Africk rebutted an initial plea deal
Vicknair was first taken into custody on state charges, including one count of sexual assault, to which he pleaded guilty in federal court to disqualification under the statute. However, U.S. District Judge Lance Africk rebutted an initial plea deal resulting in a 7-year sentence. He then sentenced Vicknair to 14 years in prison, according to court records for a Tuesday, March 14, 2023, ruling, ABC News reports.
“We are grateful that she came forward”
“We are grateful to this young survivor for coming forward, even though she thought no one would believe her,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a news release.
Similar case
In an unrelated case, former Louisiana Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Wallace Perkins pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes involving minors in January. He will serve up to 100 years in state prison after confessing to one count of second-degree rape, two counts of child sexual assault, one count of video voyeurism, two counts of producing pornography involving children under of 13, and one count of mixing harmful substances, reports .
