Acadia Parish priest sex crimes case delayed as church faces backlash over support
ACADIA PARISH, La. (NEWS 15) — The case against an Acadia Parish priest charged with child sex crimes was delayed after the judge recused himself at the request of both the prosecution and defense, as the priest's church faces criticism for controversial social media support.
Father Korey Lavergne's case was postponed after the judge stepped down from the proceedings. The development came as St. Edward's Catholic Church in Richard drew backlash for a social media post announcing parishioners would pray the rosary for Lavergne, his family, and "all affected by this difficult situation."
The church faced criticism for not mentioning the alleged victim and his family in the post. Advocates for sex abuse victims stated the message sent the wrong signal to the community.
The post was later removed from social media without explanation.
Lavergne is charged with three counts of indecent behavior with a teen boy.
As NEWS 15 Investigates exclusively reported, Lavergne was reported to police by a fellow priest who also alerted the Diocese of Lafayette. However, Lavergne remained in ministry until his arrest six weeks later.
The case will be reassigned to a new judge. No new court date has been announced.
Former Catholic priest charged with multiple counts of child molestation to face trial
Photo by: San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office
Theodore Edward Gabrielli
By: Katherine Worsham
Posted 5:14 PM, Jun 12, 2026
A San Luis Obispo County Superior Court judge ruled this week that evidence against a former Catholic priest accused of molesting four children is sufficient to move the case forward to trial.
Theodore Edward Gabrielli, 62, was arrested in Los Osos in June 2025. According to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, detectives began investigating Gabrielli after receiving a report of child abuse that first occurred more than 30 years ago. The alleged victims were under the age of 14 at the time and were living in Mexico, where their family befriended the priest.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, the alleged abuse took place between 1991 and 2010 and occurred in six California counties, including San Luis Obispo.
Sheriff’s officials said the family allowed Gabrielli to take the boys with him on trips to California, including to his parents’ home in Los Osos, where the victims claimed Gabrielli would sexually assault them.
Following a four-day preliminary hearing, Gabrielli was held to answer on 24 felony counts. He is scheduled to be arraigned on July 14.
The District Attorney’s Office says it is considering filing additional charges that prosecutors believe were proved by the evidence during Gabrielli’s preliminary hearing.
McKee signs law opening 'revival window' for lawsuits by clergy sex abuse victims
With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Dan McKee on June 11 signed legislation into law that will allow victims who were sexually abused by clergy as children to sue the Catholic Church.
The new law provides a two-year revival window that opens on July 1, 2026, for victims, who are now in many cases in their 60s and 70s, to file what had been time-barred civil suits against the Church and any other institution that not only failed to protect them from pedophiles but went out of their way to conceal their crimes.
McKee was surrounded at the signing by a group of now familiar victim-advocates who have year after year told lawmakers – at televised hearings – the horrific details of what was done to them by priests at the Sacred Heart elementary school in West Warwick, Our Lady of Mercy in East Greenwich and other locales across Rhode Island.
"This legislation sends a message to victims of child sex abuse, that Rhode Island stands with you," McKee said.
"This bill is empowering victims of alleged abuse to stand up and seek justice. Many times it takes years, sometimes longer to process such a traumatic experience, and time shouldn't be against them," said McKee, thanking the victims by name who have led the legislative fight for the new law since 2018.
He named Ann Hagan Webb (sister of the lead House sponsor, House Judiciary Chairwoman Carol McEntee), Herbert "Hub" Brennan, Jim Scanlan and Robert Houllahan who, each in their own turn, talked about how much the enactment of the law means to them.
"This has been a really long David-and-Goliath fight for justice and for the protection of children, and we won. And I thank you all so much," said Webb.
"Meanwhile, organizations like the Boy Scouts found a way to reconcile their past atrocities and settle with their victims. The St. George's cases settled. Larry Nassar survivors were victorious in their fight. Even the insurance lobby stopped testifying against our bill," she continued.
"By 2026, the only opponent to this bill was the Catholic lobby," Webb said. "Even in the face of [Attorney General Peter] Neronha's scathing report ... they fought behind the scenes as they always have to keep survivors from justice and to convince the public that this was an anti-Catholic bill."
"Many of us never imagined we would tell our stories publicly," said Scanlan. "Yet together we discovered something powerful, that our voices are stronger than our shame and that our truth is stronger than our secrecy."
Brennan, a prominent East Greenwich physician, called it an honor to "represent the many survivors" who, like him, "suffered abuse as a child ... in the hands of criminals ... who worked for organizations who shared [their] criminality through concealment, deceit and ... moving these monsters to new communities, our communities, compounding the abuse and suffering exponentially."
Houllahan said: "It's a full-time job to maintain your mental health when this happens to you as a child. It's deeply unfair. It's sadistic," but "this is definitely a victory for accountability."
Former Baltimore County youth pastor pleads guilty to child sexual abuse
Thomas Pinkerton Jr., a former youth pastor in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually abusing a minor despite denying the allegations against him, according to his defense attorney.
“There’s always more to a story,” defense attorney Justin Hollimon told reporters Monday. “Mr. Pinkerton understands the victims have feelings about what happened, but there’s always more to the story that isn’t told.”
Pinkerton, once a pastor at Central Christian Church in Rosedale before moving to Georgia, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14. During that hearing, seven men will address the court, most of them former youth group members.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Marc DeSimone said Monday that he will abide by Pinkerton’s guilty plea and impose no more than four years in prison in the case. However, if Pinkerton violates his probation, he could face another 21 years.
Although the four-year term is at the lower end of the state’s sentencing guidelines, Pinkerton will also have to register as a sex offender for life — a condition that made the out-of-state victims comfortable with the shorter sentence, according to Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
Pinkerton, 52, was extradited from Georgia to Maryland in August and indicted on 14 felony and 10 misdemeanor charges. Police said six of his accusers described being touched in Baltimore County, while the last said they were abused in Georgia.
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