JUDGE AND JURY

Louisiana Judge Found Guilty of Molesting Teen Daughters’ Friends

Jeff Perilloux’s attorney claims “the witnesses did not tell the truth.”

A Louisiana judge who is running for re-election has been convicted of molesting his daughters’ teenage friends. A jury that heard from the girls—who were ages 14 to 17 at the time of the sexual abuse—found Jeff Perilloux guilty of crimes that carry up to seven years in prison. In closing arguments on Saturday, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Derbes told the jury not to let Perilloux’s position as a judge in that same courthouse sway them. “Yes, he’s got a fancy job,” Derbes said, according to NOLA.com. “He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, hiding in plain sight before you,” Defense attorney Jim Williams said the girls could not be believed. “I hate like heck to stand up here and call a young lady a liar,” he told jurors. “The witnesses did not tell the truth.”