DENHAM SPRINGS, La. — A month-long investigation into allegations that a Livingston Parish deputy raped a woman has resulted in the arrest of the woman who filed the complaint.
According to a news release from State Police, the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office contacted State Police in October after a woman accused a Livingston Parish deputy of rape.
Investigators said the woman, 38-year-old Sherri Penton of Denham Springs, met the deputy on a dating website.
The two met at a park in the town of Walker, then reportedly engaged in sexual acts in the bathroom of the park.
Three days later, Penton went to a Baton Rouge area hospital and claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the deputy, State Police said.
According to investigators, Penton and the deputy gave conflicting accounts of their interactions.
Penton told troopers that the deputy raped her in the back of his vehicle. The deputy told troopers that the sex was consensual and it took place in the restroom of the park.
Troopers were able to determine that the encounter occurred in the restroom using DNA and the State Police Crime Lab. The Crime Lab was unable to locate any evidence from the deputy’s vehicle indicating that Penton was ever inside.
Investigators determined that Penton knowingly filed a false complaint alleging rape against the deputy.
She was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on charges of filing a false complaint against law enforcement and criminal mischief.
“The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office takes every complaint that it receives seriously,” said Sheriff Jason Ard. “My job and the job of this office is to investigate those complaints. The facts of any investigation reveal the validity of any complaint. In this particular incident, the evidence did not back up the accuser’s story.”