Christian pastor, a former reality TV contestant, found guilty of child cruelty
A jury found MAGA cultist and former "Survivor" player John Raymond guilty after an hour of deliberation
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Louisiana Pastor John Raymond has been found guilty of child cruelty, and it took a jury “around an hour” to come to that conclusion. It’s a fitting end to a saga involving a truly disturbing man who was a reality TV star, Republican politician, and religious leader.
Back in 2022, Raymond, the head of Lakeside Christian School in Slidell, was arrested after he allegedly brought three students into his office to reprimand them for talking in class… then proceeded to literally tape their mouths shut after wrapping the tape around their heads.
The students stayed in that condition for 45 minutes, according to police, until other administrators, feeling very awkward about this punishment, cut the tape off.
Police said the students complained they had trouble breathing while their mouths were taped and that having the tape removed was painful.
Detectives presented their evidence to a judge Thursday morning and a few hours later Raymond turned himself in to police.
He was booked into the Slidell City Jail for three counts of cruelty to juveniles.
Raymond defended the decision in a public statement saying (1) he gave the students the option of using transparent Scotch tape instead, (2) he offered to call their parents and suspend the kids but they didn’t want that, and (3) he asked the kids if they were in pain and could breathe.
He couldn’t believe people were treating him like the bad guy.
"These students were given a choice between suspension and temporary tape. They were never in any physical pain. Their breathing was never impaired. The tape was never wrapped around their heads. And it was off in under 10 minutes. No student was ever treated with cruelty or harmed in any way," he added.
You would think a guy who was the first person voted off the island when he competed on the TV show “Survivor” in 2002 (seriously!) would have had a little more self-awareness regarding how badly he came across in social situations.
Raymond was so unlikeable that, in 2018 and 2019, when he ran for a seat in the Louisiana State House on a campaign of loving Donald Trump and hating gay people, Republicans still rejected him. Twice!
But it didn’t stop there.
Just a couple of months after he taped those kids’ mouths shut, Raymond was arrested again for—wait for it—child cruelty.
Slidell Police said the new allegations include Raymond holding a 4-year-old boy upside down by his ankles and "whipping his buttocks" and in a separate incident covering the same child's mouth and nose with his hand to stop a "tantrum."
In a press release, police said witnesses reported Raymond's actions prevented the child from breathing "to the point of him going limp." The witness, a staff member, said the child was "out of it and lethargic" and "unable to stand."
He took a voluntary leave of absence from the school after that but denied doing anything wrong. In fact, in a speech he gave that same month to the St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee, where he served as an elected GOP official, he said the allegations were false and that he was a victim of “cancel culture.”
He wasn’t asked to resign. The thought of doing so never even crossed his mind. The Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee, on which he also served, didn’t punish him either. Why would they? Cruelty is their brand.
By November of 2022, Raymond, who was the pastor of New Horizon Church and the owner of a Christian radio station called “The Bridge,” was formally charged with the crimes. He pleaded not guilty.
Separately from all that, four parents also sued Raymond over the alleged abuse. Their lawsuit mentioned a completely different incident from the 2016-2017 school year in which Raymond allegedly assaulted another child and caused “serious bodily injury” or “neurological impairment.”
With all that controversy on his record, Raymond finally decided to step down from his professional positions and spend more time with his family in quiet reflection about the decisions he’s made and I’m just kidding.
In May of 2023, Raymond announced he would be running once again for the Louisiana State House.
"I feel it's important people who believe in conservative Christian principles hold positions to create laws to direct our state properly," Raymond said in an interview with USA Today Network. "I've spent 23 years serving St. Tammany Parish in promoting Christian conservative values, and I feel compelled to run to bring those values into law."
That right there was the epitome of the Republican Party: A guy who faced four counts of child cruelty felt he was in the best position to write laws to protect children from the “woke trans-agenda.”
As if guys like him weren’t the biggest threat facing kids these days.
If he won the seat, there was no doubt he would have been an unabashed Christian Nationalist in office:
Raymond is a familiar figure in the Capitol who has testified in multiple hearings this spring supporting bills like requiring schools to post "In God We Trust" in classrooms, officially allowing historical Bible courses to be taught in public schools and in favor of LGBTQ restrictions.
Given that District 104 was reliably red and represented by a Republican who couldn’t run again because of term limits, whoever came out of the non-partisan primary would almost certainly become the next representative. That person just needed 50% of the vote.
That’s why it was so messed up that the state’s GOP officially endorsed Raymond in his bid for office even though they had another option.
Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Louis Gurvich confirmed in a text that the executive committee endorsed Raymond.
Raymond's opponent in the race for the House District 104 seat, fellow Republican [Jay Gallé] of Mandeville, said he was shocked by the endorsement.
"As a lifelong Republican it's an embarrassment," said [Gallé] while acknowledging Raymond's right to the presumption of innocence.
…
"(The party) puts itself out there as a protector of children," said [Gallé], a former marine and businessman who now manages his family's real estate portfolio. "I can't express how disappointed I am that the Louisiana Republican Party has chosen to endorse a candidate with not one, not two, not three, but four criminal charges of cruelty to children."
To be clear, there were plenty of reasons a lifelong Republican should be embarrassed by his party. This was only the latest one. It made you wonder how shitty a candidate Gallé must have been that the state’s GOP leaders felt like an alleged child abuser had a better chance of winning the general election. The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Raymond lost that primary. In October, Gallé beat him, taking 64% of the vote and earning a seat in the legislature.
That left Raymond with plenty of time to focus on his upcoming trial.
That trial took place over the past week and it quickly became apparent that there was no strategy in place. No good one, anyway. Raymond’s lawyers were still going with the He’s Being Persecuted defense.
… his defense made clear what it believes the case is about: “The left against the right, the conservatives against the woke,” attorney Joseph Long argued in his opening statement.
..
“Make no mistake, folks, this country is in the middle of a culture war,” Long told the jury. “In Europe, parents can’t even physically discipline their children anymore. It’s coming. This is government overreach.”
It’s no surprise, then, that the jury didn’t buy it. His Christian cruelty had no justification and they found him “guilty of three counts of Cruelty to Juveniles and one count of Second-Degree Cruelty to Juveniles.”
His sentencing takes place October 23.
Each of the first three counts could earn him a cash penalty of up to $1,000 or a jail sentence of up to 10 years. The final count can be punished with a jail sentence of up to 40 years. It’s hard to imagine he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison, though that’s theoretically possible; some jail time, however, will likely be in order.
All of this means there will finally be some measure of justice against a conservative Christian pastor with unearned confidence who felt he was on a moral crusade. Raymond saw himself as God’s gift to his community no matter how much harm he left in his wake. He dismissed every allegation against him as a hoax. He’ll inevitably label the jury and his critics “anti-Christian.” And all of that will be red meat for white evangelicals who ignore the facts of the case and focus only on his religious résumé.
The biggest irony is that Raymond’s candidate page when he was campaigning said he was running for office because “Our children are our greatest treasure.” (That page is still up today!)
The children will be safer after the pastor is behind bars.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
Another deeply disturbed, christian pervert who tries to justify his atrocious behavior by saying he offered transparent tape as an option! He needs at least 10 years to think this over. It sounds like something from the 1800s. The fierce teacher or principal enforcing obedient behavior (obedience to them). Spare the rod, spoil the child, a child should be seen not heard…These religious nuts need a big dose of reality.
The GOP remains a welcome home for psychopaths and narcissists.