Governor Jeff Landry has signed a new law criminalizing grooming, the act of building trust with minors to enable sexual abuse. The bill, authored by Marrero Senator Patrick Connick, was inspired by his daughter, Sarah Gioe, and her husband, Tim Gioe, who was abused by a priest as a child.
“My son-in-law was a victim, he is a victim, but I have to give him credit for stepping up. He’s a hero in my book for stepping up and telling his story, and because of that, it got to my attention and my daughter’s attention, and we went to Baton Rouge and got this bill passed.”
The law allows authorities to intervene even if abuse hasn’t yet occurred, targeting manipulative behaviors by adults at least four years older than the child. Connick says authorities had to wait till molestation occurred before acting.
“If a grooming law had been in place, Pat Wattigny who was the priest at the time, would have been prosecuted for inappropriate text detected in 2020, and he would have been punished then and stopped.”
Connick says now its time for enforcement against sexual predators that attempt to groom children and to educate parents.
“If any parents see something like this happening to their children call the police and they will be arrested, whoever is doing this type of activity. The parents need to be involved.”
The law takes effect August 1.
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