Category: Hosanna Church

It has been suggested that the fictional TV series True Detective was inspired by the Hosanna Church child abuse case documented in this collection of news articles.

Hosanna pastor’s sentence upheld

Louis Lamonica An appellate court has upheld former Hosanna Church pastor Louis D. Lamonica’s aggravated rape convictions and life sentence for his role in a sex-abuse scandal at the now-defunct Ponchatoula church.

The state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal rejected Lamonica’s lone argument that his expert witness should have been allowed to testify at trial about false confessions and the influence of high-control groups or cults.

Was there a satanic cult at Hosanna Church?

Richard Ofshe After the trial of Louis Lamonica, Richard Ofshe said he could have offered the jury insight into the nature of cults to help them understand what was happening at Hosanna. He said he could have told them there is no such thing as satanic cults that abuse children.

If the initial statements of the children and suspects indicate the abuse occurred as part of a satanic cult — something that has never happened — then the truth of everything alleged in that statement is questionable, Ofshe said.

Louis Lamonica convicted of raping two sons

Louis Lamonica Lamonica is the second of seven members of the now-defunct Ponchatoula church to be tried and convicted of committing child abuse that sometimes took place along with satanic rituals at the church.

Assistant District Attorney Don Wall and Perrilloux said they did not know which one of the five remaining church members they would bring to trial next.

Ex-Hosanna pastor: Confession forced

Louis Lamonica Louis Lamonica, 49, of Hammond, is on trial in the 21st Judicial District Court on four counts of aggravated rape of his sons when they were age 11 or younger. Seven church members were indicted in 2005 on charges of molesting children. Lamonica is the second among them to go on trial.

Lamonica’s attorney, Michael Thiel, maintained in questioning his client Friday that Lamonica falsely confessed to child rape because he was being controlled by a woman who claimed to be a prophet of God.

Hosanna may reach trial in 2006

AMITE — Prosecutors literally have a truckload of potential evidence to sift through, an unusual set of circumstances to explain to a jury, and far fewer witnesses than they once expected in the case against the members of the defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula. The investigation began when a women who fled to Ohio in March 2005 asked authorities to look into allegations of child abuse committed by the leaders of the church. Then, the church pastor walked into the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office in April 2005 and allegedly confessed to abusing children and animals in a Satanic ritual. Now