NEW ORLEANS -- The Louisiana attorney general's office, which is prosecuting suspended St. John Parish Judge Jeff Perilloux on sexual misconduct charges, just revealed explosive new allegations against him.
Perilloux, 51, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery.
Wednesday we learned that Perilloux is also accused of, but not yet charged with similar prior acts involving teenage girls.
"Although there are three counts in the indictment, (prosecutors) want to show to the judge or to the jury that this is not an accident, that this didn't happen by accident," WWL-TV legal analyst Chick Foret. "This is not some happenstance."
Prosecutors want to use Perilloux's alleged prior bad acts to help convict him.
They asked trial Judge Dennis Waldron to allow the jury to see a series of improper text messages and pictures they claim Perilloux sent to teenage girls including one snapshot of his naked legs from the thighs down.
They also point to an incident last year where Perilloux is accused of sliding his fingers into a 15-year-old's bathing suit bottom during a family trip to Destin, Florida. In another incident, he's accused of touched an 18 year old's breasts while applying vapor rub.
The state claims the prior acts evidence shows a "lustful disposition toward children."
"The attorney general is going to try and show the jury that there was grooming," Foret said. "That he has a pattern here where he was engaging in criminal activity with all of these young girls in an attempt to commit crimes at a later time and date."
Wednesday, Judge Waldron granted a defense request to subpoena the state Department of Children and Family services for records related to two of perilloux's accusers. The defense is also requesting the accusers' school counseling and drug testing records.
"Someone has told them or they have gotten some information, I suspect, that this girl or one of these girls has made a similar complaint against a family member and they're trying to retrieve those records," Foret said.
The defense also revealed Judge Perilloux has already submitted to a private polygraph test. Prosecutors seized on that point, suggesting that Perilloux take a lie detector test administered by the state police.
The trial has yet to rule on whether prosecutors will be allowed to present prior acts to the jury.
Perilloux's defense attorneys plan to object during a hearing now set for Nov. 13.