GONZALES, Louisiana — A former Ascension Parish sheriff’s detective admitted Thursday to having sex with a 14-year-old girl in a plea agreement with prosecutors that will garner him one year in state prison.

William Lanoux, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile as prosecutors agreed to drop a malfeasance in office count before Judge Jason Verdigets of the 23rd Judicial District Court Thursday in Gonzales.

Prosecutors had accused Lanoux, 39116 Balmoral Drive, Prairieville, of soliciting and having sex with the 14-year-old in his unmarked sheriff’s sport utility vehicle the night of June 13, 2016, after he picked her up down the street from her house.

Sheriff’s juvenile officers testified in 2016 that Lanoux, an eight-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office who was on duty at the time of the incident, had arranged on social media to meet the girl.

Lanoux claimed he thought he was having consensual sex with an 18-year-old. Officers testified the sexual intercourse stopped when Lanoux heard a dispatch report about a missing 14-year-old that matched where he had picked up the girl.

Sheriff’s deputies originally arrested Lanoux on a first-degree rape count but the grand jury charged him with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile. He was fired a day after the incident and his arrest.

On Thursday, Lanoux admitted in his plea to having sex with someone between the ages of 13 and 17 years old, the plea agreement says.

Judge Verdigets ordered Lanoux, who has been out on bail, to report to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office April 15 to begin serving his sentence. When he’s released, he will have to register as a sex offender.

Source: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/courts/article_f9372b74-1332-11e8-b3f9-234a83167afa.html

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