Ex-Bunkie cop disputes charges of simple battery

A former part-time Bunkie P.D. officer says he did not resign after being charged with attempting to take off the shirt of a 17-year-old girl in his home earlier this month.

Corey Champagne also claims he was told aldermen allegedly put pressure on Police Chief Scott Ferguson to dismiss him in connection with the incident his attorney says is "a made up story."

Champagne said he called Ferguson within a day of his arrest and was told to come in to work his shift. Champagne worked three shifts for Bunkie P.D. after his arrest. He said Ferguson's press release saying
Champagne resigned is untrue.

"I stand behind my press release 150 percent," Ferguson said in response to Champagne's comments.

Champagne, 32, and his roommate, Kasey Jackson, 24, were arrested by Tangipahoa Sheriff's Office detectives on March 16 after a 17-year-old girl locked herself in the bathroom of their Hammond home and contacted friends on social media to come get her.

She told investigators she "felt uncomfortable because they were trying to get her to take her clothes off for money."

The men were charged with simple battery due to an allegation that they grabbed the girl's arms and tried to take her shirt off.

Champagne and Jackson -- who was fired from his position as a TPSO patrol deputy after his arrest -- deny they did anything wrong and dispute the girl's accusations.

Their attorney, Jarrett Ambeau of Baton Rouge, said his clients did nothing legally wrong but the accusations have ruined their lives and reputations. He said they received threats, "terrible emails" and their families
were even contacted by people who believed the men were preying on underage girls.

"This 17-year-old was absolutely not a juvenile under the law," Ambeau said. "Both of these men lost their jobs. They were evicted from the home they were renting because of the public's perception that they had a juvenile girl -- a 14 or 15-year-old child -- in their home that night instead of a 17-year-old young woman."

Ambeau said he "is not going to have a conversation about whether what they did was smart, or moral, or anything of that nature. From a legal standpoint, they committed no crime."

The fact that the only charge filed was for simple battery, defined as the "unwanted touching of another human being," is evidence that his clients were not engaged in any predatory behavior that night, Ambeau noted.

CONTACTED POLICE CHIEF

In a video interview with his attorney, Champagne said Ferguson told him it would be best if he resigned because the police chief had been getting "push back" from City Council members over the incident.

However, Champagne flatly refused to resign, Ambeau said. Ferguson had said Champagne was placed on administrative leave on March 22 and resigned on March 23.That Facebook interview has been taken
down. Ambeau said it was posted for a few days to get his clients' side of the story out.

"The public record is clear that Corey Champagne worked three shifts after he was arrested for this incident," Ambeau said. "It is my understanding that the investigating detectives contacted the police chief.

"Champagne has a record of a phone call he made shortly after his arrest -- either later that day or the next -- to the Bunkie police chief," he continued. "There is no recording of what was said, of course, but
the timing of the call indicates what it was most likely about.

"Corey said the chief told him it 'is just a misdemeanor, not that big of a deal, come in and work your shift.'"

The next week, after news reports started surfacing about the two law enforcement officers' arrest involving alcohol and teenagers, Ferguson allegedly told Champagne he had received some "push
back" from city officials and that Champagne should resign, Ambeau said.

"I am not certain that Corey has been officially fired or removed," Ambeau said in an interview on March 30. "He still had his commission card when I interviewed him" on March 26.

MET AT CLUB

The men said they met the two girls, one 17 and one 19, outside of a strip club and invited them to come to their house. They said they did not buy them alcohol at the club, nor did they give the girls any alcohol
while they were in the house.

Ambeau said it would not have been illegal if they had because both teens are adults under the law. Although they are under the legal drinking age, it is not illegal to provide alcohol to an underage person in
your own home, Ambeau said.

TPSO Operations Chief Jimmy Travis also said the two former law enforcement officers cannot be charged with any offense against a juvenile because a 17-year-old is considered an "adult victim" under state
law, even though they are also considered a juvenile offender if they commit a crime.

"For the events of this case, the 17-year-old is not a juvenile," Ambeau said. "The use of that word in connection with this case is misleading and inaccurate. It was the characterization by the media that the
young woman was a juvenile that caused the public outrage.

"The public gets angry with people who mess with juveniles," Ambeau continued, "and they have a right to be angry with those people. But that was not the case in this incident."

He said a 17-year-old is considered a minor in civil matters, such as legal contracts and the right to vote, but "for all actions involved in this case, she is over the age of consent and the use of the term to
describe her is definitely not true. Again, the situation may be 'iffy' morally, but legally there is no question of her legal status."

'MADE UP STORY'

Ambeau said his clients contend the girl "made up the story for attention. She admitted she was not kidnapped, was not held against her will, was not locked in a bathroom by the men and was not ordered
to take her clothes off. In fact, at one point during the evening Mr. Jackson told her repeatedly to put her clothes back on."

That is a reference to Jackson's statement to detectives that he went looking for the 17-year-old when she "disappeared." He was concerned that she might have left the house.

He found her in a bathroom with her shirt off. He told her to put her clothes back on, to which she allegedly replied that she was on the phone and would be out in a minute.

Ambeau said that if the case goes to trial, he will prove the 17-year-old told several lies in her statement to investigators, and the accusation that the men attempted to take her shirt off is just one of them.

"When someone tells a bunch of lies, it is hard to believe anything they said is true," Ambeau said. "It is much more likely that everything they said is a lie."