Jeffrey Cashe is a Family Court Judge in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. In 2022, he sparked national outrage when he gave ordered a woman to pay child support to her rapist.
Crysta Abelseth says she was raped by John Barnes and became pregnant. He was 30 and she was 16, so even if it were consensual, it would be criminal. She had a daughter who is now a teenager. As happens in most cases, Abelseth did not report it to the police at the time. In 2011, Barnes learned about the daughter. He sued for joint custody and got it. In 2015, Abelseth filed a police report detailing the rape. It had never been assigned to an investigator let alone pursued. It is also sealed. The local police department is a client of the accused rapist’s web service company.
In 2022, the father sued for full custody, angry that Abelseth gave her daughter a cell phone. The case was heard by Judge Jeffrey Cashe who gave the alleged rapist full custody and ordered the victim to pay her rapist child support.
Of course, when national condemnation from every quarter followed, Cashe said he had no idea and reversed his decision, but that’s not the only questionable decision this mollycoddler or rapists and child molesters has made.
Later that same year, a 7-year-old girl who claimed she was sexually abused by two men, was ordered to be sent back to that home where she was abused for unsupervised visits three weekends a month. From WBRZ: “I was asked why was I sending my daughter back in that home where the abuse happened before,” Schliegelmeyer said. “I said I was being forced by Judge Jefferey Cashe under a judgment he ordered to go there three weekends per month with unsupervised visitation.”
UPDATE: Judge Cashe barred the father from contacting the girl but also took custody away from her mother. The girl indicated her preference was to stay with guardians. However, just to make sure we know he is irredeemable, the Judge declared neither party credible and went out of his way to comment on the rape allegation that although Barnes technically raped her, it didn’t amount to the kind of rape he thinks matters.
Update: Heavy.com used a couple of my tweets in their story on this travesty.
- WBRZ: INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Rape victim ordered to pay her abuser child support
- WBRZ: Despite child sex abuse complaints, judge orders child to home where crime allegedly occurred
- The Independent, US Edition: Judge bars Louisiana father from contacting child in custody battle with alleged victim
