Paul Murphy
NEW ORLEANS -- Suspended
Officer Willie A. Gant, Sr., was bonded out of Orleans Parish Prison late
Wednesday afternoon.
The 26-year veteran on the New
Orleans Police Department faces two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles
and two counts of sexual battery on a juvenile.
According to arrest documents,
a 12-year-old girl claims Gant molested her on two separate occasions at his
house in the 1500 block of Marigny Street in the St. Roch neighborhood. His
attorney Patrick Giraud says Gant denies the charges.
"We haven't had a
discussion as to where he believes these charges originated from," said
Giraud. "He just denied them."
Police executed a search
warrant at Gant's home after his arrest. His attorney wouldn't say what, if
anything, was taken during the search. A judge set Gant's bond at $50,000.
"The main concern was
making sure he got a livable bond, which we believe we were successful
with," said Giraud. Willie Gant has a troubled past with the NOPD A check
of his civil service record showed multiple suspensions for Neglect of Duty and
traffic accidents. He was also accused of punching a French Quarter tour guide
in 2008.
Gant is the fourth NOPD officer
arrested in July.
Sunday, police booked Stephanie
Caldwell with two felony charges of domestic violence. On July 14, police
booked officer Christopher Carter with domestic abuse battery. On July11,
Detective Robert Hurst was booked with attempted murder and simple battery,
following an argument with his former girlfriend. The attempted murder charge
was later dropped.
New Orleans Independent Police
Monitor Susan Hutson said the recent spate of arrests is troubling.
"We have a number of
issues coming out, domestic violence incidents, a lot of those lately, alcohol
related issues and now this incident involving minors," said Hutson.
"Those are very disturbing allegations."
Hutson said it's now up to the
NOPD to put a program in place to address the issues.
"The consent decree does
require the NOPD to have a health and wellness program for it's officers,"
said Hutson. "So you have to look at what can be done to make sure you're
helping officers before they kind of flame out in these situations."
The arrested officers were all
suspended from duty.
