Jury Finds Lamonica Guilty of Rape, The Advocate, September 5, 2008

Jury Finds Lamonica Guilty of Rape

The Advocate

September 5, 2008

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/27910049.html

AMITE — After nearly eight hours of deliberations, a Tangipahoa Parish jury returned early Friday morning a guilty verdict on four counts of aggravated rape against Louis D. Lamonica.

Former Pastor Louis D. Lamonica, right, of the now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, walks with his defense attorney, Michael Thiel, as they leave the Tangipahoa Parish Courthouse on a lunch break Aug. 22.

Lamonica, 49, of Hammond, faces a mandatory life sentence in prison without parole on Oct. 21 when state District Judge Zoey Waguespack is scheduled to sentence him.

Ten out of 12 members of the jury of seven men and five women told the judge at 1:45 a.m. Friday that Lamonica was guilty of raping his two sons when they were age 11 or younger.

The former pastor of now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula is the second of seven members of the church to be tried and convicted of committing child abuse that sometimes took place along with satanic rituals at the church.