St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 24-year-old man wanted on a charge of forcible rape of a 14-year-old girl, who also contracted venereal disease from the incident, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.
Jonathan Hampton, also known as “Gentilly,’’ allegedly raped a girl who lives in another state but was visiting relatives in eastern St. Bernard Parish, the sheriff said.
Sheriff’s juvenile division detectives are now trying to locate other young women that Hampton acknowledged having sex with in order to make sure they know they should also be tested for venereal disease, Sheriff Stephens said.
Hampton was arrested by sheriff’s deputies who investigated a man walking on an Arabi street about 10 p.m. Monday and it turned out to be the wanted suspect, who tried to flee but was shortly caught. A deputy suffered a shoulder injury during the arrest, Sheriff Stephens said. Hampton apparently had been homeless prior to his arrest.
Hampton was booked into the St. Bernard Parish Prison on the charge of forcible rape and was also booked with simple possession of marijuana found on him. He is being held in lieu of $105,000 bond.
Sheriff Stephens said the girl reported the incident, which allegedly happened in Violet between July 5-17 at the home of a friend of a relative of the teen-ager, after she began having symptoms of venereal disease. The 14-year-old was hospitalized in Children’s Hospital but has been released, the sheriff said.
A judge issued an arrest warrant charging Hampton with forcible rape of a minor.
It had been speculated that Hampton was be trying to get together money to leave the New Orleans area to get to New Mexico, where his mother has lived since the hurricane, the sheriff said.
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