Hosanna Church - Agents Graphically Describe Abuse

By Don Ellzey

Friday, November 30, 2007 11:31 AM CST

AMITE - An FBI agent testified Thursday that Trey Bernard said in an interview that when he first began changing his infant daughter's diapers, his hands would start shaking.

Bernard said he knew he would likely lose control, and he did, special agent Joseph Edwards testified.

Edwards was a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Austin “Trey” Bernard III, 39, of Hammond. Bernard is charged with the aggravated rape of a 2-year-old girl, his daughter, in the Hosanna Church child sex case. The now-defunct church was located off U.S. 51 between Hammond and Ponchatoula and was the site of alleged occult activities and child sex.

Edwards was the fifth witness called by the prosecution since testimony in the trial began Tuesday.

In an interview with Bernard at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office Substation on June 10, 2005, Edwards said he was told by Bernard that during the diaper changes he began touching his infant daughter. The touching became oral sex and eventually penetration.
Edwards said Bernard claimed to have been molested as a child, which led him to molest children.

Federal prosecutor Lisa Marie Freitas, now with the Child Exploitation Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, was a special agent assigned to the FBI's New Orleans office in 2005.

Freitas testified that she, too, interviewed Bernard, who told her that he had done with his daughter everything a human could do to the body of another human. Much of the abuse occurred while his wife, Nicole Bernard, was working.

She said Bernard told her that he was the first to penetrate his daughter and Louis Lamonica was the second.

She said Bernard described the rituals at the church, although the rituals were not the point of the FBI investigation. Freitas said he volunteered the information.

According to Bernard, the rituals took place in what was called “the room,” which was the church's youth room. He described how six adults would line up shoulder to shoulder and perform sex acts on his daughter or other children, who were passed down the line. The rule was that there would be no penetration or injury.

The rituals had a Satanic theme, including a Pentagram, the use of animals and animal parts such as chicken feet and the use of animal blood.

Freitas said that according to Bernard, Patricia Pierson and Robin Lamonica, two defendants in the case, put animal blood on his daughter during one of the rites. She said Bernard claimed Pierson and Lamonica also sexually abused his daughter.

He said animal blood was also put on other children, Freitas said.

She said she and other FBI agents got a search warrant for the church. Bernard served as a guide, pointing out what the different rooms and areas were used for. Freitas said nothing was in the sanctuary - no pews, no chairs, just a large, empty room.

The youth room was pitch black when the lights were out, she said, but the room was equipped with a black light. When Bernard turned it on, the light revealed writings on the walls from ceiling to floor.

“Every inch, from top to bottom, was writing,” Freitas said.

The writing consisted of songs, lyrics and Biblical verses. Some of the words were inverted or changed, she said.

Using a special chemical, a search team found signs of body fluids all over the carpet, she said. Pieces of the carpet with fluid spots were cut out for evidence.

Freitas testified that federal search warrants were issued for the residence of Chris Labat, one of the seven defendants. Agents met with sheriff's deputies to execute the warrant because Labat was a deputy. The search provided several pieces of evidence, including a computer but nothing that related directly to Bernard.

An interview with Louis Lamonica, another defendant in the case, along with his comments to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, pointed to a church group, Freitas said. Law enforcement agents then began making arrests.

Lamonica, the former pastor of Hosanna Church, turned himself in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office before Bernard's arrest.

Tangipahoa Parish Detective Mike DePhillip said authorities learned on May 19, 2005, that Bernard was allegedly involved with the Hosanna group, Freitas said. But according to DePhillips, Bernard wanted to speak with FBI agents because some have a background in psychology.

The interview took place June 10, 2005, at the sheriff's substation in Hammond, she said. Freitas and Edwards said Bernard was fully informed of his rights and was advised that he had the right to an attorney. He declined the offer of an attorney and signed the federal form showing he had been advised of his rights.

The interview was not taped because agents did not have permission from the regional FBI office to use a tape recorder or video device, she said.

“The first thing he wanted to know was why things happen the way they do,” Freitas told the court.

She said the agents told him they only wanted to know what he had witnessed.

Bernard said, “Things just happen that way,” she said.

She said he claimed to have been sexually abused as child by his mother. He said he and his wife, Nicole, had a Christian background and he had felt she could “keep him straight.” But he said he had been in a homosexual relationship with Louis Lamonica.

Freitas said that according to Bernard, the group started under the leadership of Lamonica. Lamonica had full control at the church, and it was not long before most members left, including the youth pastor. Bernard replaced him. She said it was Bernard's job to bring the young people to a certain level of sexual behavior and to gauge how they reacted to sexual contact by an adult. About 10 children were in the youth group.

Bernard told the interviewers that the Lamonicas' two sons had been sexually abused by their father from a very young age. Their parents had trained them to lie and they were very good at it, Freitas said, quoting Bernard.

She said she does not feel Bernard sought counseling from anyone outside the church.

Freitas said that according to Bernard, Lois Mowbray was a church member of the church who learned of the sexual abuse but did not report it. Bernard claimed the group used no alcohol or drugs. She said Bernard said he last abused his daughter about two years before his arrest.

Al Bensabat, Bernard's attorney, noted that the federal search warrant was for Labat's residence, not Bernard's. Bensabat said Bernard's wife was present for some of the rituals and that law enforcement agents could not verify the events that Freitas had described.

Responding to a question from Bensabat, Freitas said FBI agents found no pentagram and no animal blood at the church.

According to Edwards, Bernard said he was not sure of some of the events and they may have been a fantasy, but he was very clear about the molestation of his daughter.

Edwards said Bernard thinks Mowbray told him to make a written account of all that had happened. That account, Bernard's diary, was given to the jury for review late Thursday. It is graphic and detailed as to some of the incidents.

The jury also heard the taped interview conducted with Bernard by sheriff's detectives DePhillips and Stuart Murphy shortly after his arrest.

Judge Doug Hughes announced after Thursday's court session that jurors should prepare for a half day of court on Saturday.

Developers to New Orleans poor: Go fuck yourselves

The economic cleansing of New Orleans continues, as developers piss on the impoverished and lobby to demolish public housing.

Ritual aspects of Hosanna Church case detailed

This is the first article I've found that describes the actual ritual aspects of the Hosanna Church defendants (and the now convicted Austin "Trey" Bernard). Some excerpts below:

Federal prosecutor Lisa Marie Freitas, now with the Child Exploitation Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, was a special agent assigned to the FBI's New Orleans office in 2005.

Freitas testified that she, too, interviewed Bernard, who told her that he had done with his daughter everything a human could do to the body of another human. Much of the abuse occurred while his wife, Nicole Bernard, was working.

She said Bernard told her that he was the first to penetrate his daughter and Louis Lamonica was the second.

She said Bernard described the rituals at the church, although the rituals were not the point of the FBI investigation. Freitas said he volunteered the information.

According to Bernard, the rituals took place in what was called “the room,” which was the church's youth room. He described how six adults would line up shoulder to shoulder and perform sex acts on his daughter or other children, who were passed down the line. The rule was that there would be no penetration or injury.

The rituals had a Satanic theme, including a Pentagram, the use of animals and animal parts such as chicken feet and the use of animal blood.

Freitas said that according to Bernard, Patricia Pierson and Robin Lamonica, two defendants in the case, put animal blood on his daughter during one of the rites. She said Bernard claimed Pierson and Lamonica also sexually abused his daughter.

He said animal blood was also put on other children, Freitas said.

She said she and other FBI agents got a search warrant for the church. Bernard served as a guide, pointing out what the different rooms and areas were used for. Freitas said nothing was in the sanctuary - no pews, no chairs, just a large, empty room.

The youth room was pitch black when the lights were out, she said, but the room was equipped with a black light. When Bernard turned it on, the light revealed writings on the walls from ceiling to floor.

“Every inch, from top to bottom, was writing,” Freitas said.

The writing consisted of songs, lyrics and Biblical verses. Some of the words were inverted or changed, she said.

Using a special chemical, a search team found signs of body fluids all over the carpet, she said. Pieces of the carpet with fluid spots were cut out for evidence.

Freitas testified that federal search warrants were issued for the residence of Chris Labat, one of the seven defendants. Agents met with sheriff's deputies to execute the warrant because Labat was a deputy. The search provided several pieces of evidence, including a computer but nothing that related directly to Bernard.

An interview with Louis Lamonica, another defendant in the case, along with his comments to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, pointed to a church group, Freitas said. Law enforcement agents then began making arrests.

Lamonica, the former pastor of Hosanna Church, turned himself in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office before Bernard's arrest.

Tangipahoa Parish Detective Mike DePhillip said authorities learned on May 19, 2005, that Bernard was allegedly involved with the Hosanna group, Freitas said. But according to DePhillips, Bernard wanted to speak with FBI agents because some have a background in psychology.

The interview took place June 10, 2005, at the sheriff's substation in Hammond, she said. Freitas and Edwards said Bernard was fully informed of his rights and was advised that he had the right to an attorney. He declined the offer of an attorney and signed the federal form showing he had been advised of his rights.

The interview was not taped because agents did not have permission from the regional FBI office to use a tape recorder or video device, she said.

“The first thing he wanted to know was why things happen the way they do,” Freitas told the court.

She said the agents told him they only wanted to know what he had witnessed.

Bernard said, “Things just happen that way,” she said.

She said he claimed to have been sexually abused as child by his mother. He said he and his wife, Nicole, had a Christian background and he had felt she could “keep him straight.” But he said he had been in a homosexual relationship with Louis Lamonica.

Freitas said that according to Bernard, the group started under the leadership of Lamonica. Lamonica had full control at the church, and it was not long before most members left, including the youth pastor. Bernard replaced him. She said it was Bernard's job to bring the young people to a certain level of sexual behavior and to gauge how they reacted to sexual contact by an adult. About 10 children were in the youth group.

Bernard told the interviewers that the Lamonicas' two sons had been sexually abused by their father from a very young age. Their parents had trained them to lie and they were very good at it, Freitas said, quoting Bernard.

Hosanna Church Member Guilty

The verdict is in—Trey Bernard is guilty, and will spend life in prison without the chance of parole.

NOTE: All material about the Hosanna Church case is archived on the index page. Please post comments on that page only.

WWL TV (video clip)

WDSU

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Debra Lemoine's article is the most detailed, so I'm mirroring it in its entirety here:

By DEBRA LEMOINE
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Dec 4, 2007 - Page: 1A

AMITE — A Tangipahoa Parish jury on Monday evening convicted Austin “Trey” Bernard III of three counts of aggravated rape for his role in the Hosanna Church sex abuse case.

The jurors voted unanimously to convict Bernard in the rape of his 2-year-old daughter. All but one found him guilty in the rape of a 12-year-old boy, 21st Judicial District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated two hours before reaching a decision.

Bernard faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 12. The District Attorney’s Office declined to seek the death penalty, which is a potential penalty, because of the age of the victims.

Bernard’s attorney, Al Bensabat, said after court that he had to overcome a mountain of evidence against Bernard.

Bernard, 39, of Hammond, is the first of the seven members of the now-defunct Ponchatoula church to go to trial after being indicted in 2005 in the rapes of children.

No trial date has been set for the remaining six suspects. Perrilloux said he anticipates bringing Louis Lamonica to trial in early 2008.

The verdict was greeted by two sobs, one from Bernard’s stepmother, Leslie Bernard, and the other from his ex-wife, Nicole Bernard.

Nicole Bernard, who was arrested but not charged in the case, said the verdict was just.

“I would like to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for justice for my daughter,” she said to reporters outside the courthouse. “I will never quit until the last six are brought to justice.”

Leslie Bernard, Bernard’s stepmother, said through tears on her way to her car that the verdict surprised her because three of Bernard’s alleged victims said they were never abused. One of the victims who recanted was Lamonica’s son, whom Bernard was convicted of raping when the boy was 12.

Trey Bernard said nothing in court after state District Judge Doug Hughes read the verdict. Deputies handcuffed him immediately and led him out a side door in the courtroom before the jury left the room.

In his closing arguments earlier Monday, prosecutor Don Wall described Trey Bernard as a situational abuser, a man who has the desire to molest children and will do so if given the opportunity.

Bernard had a sexual relationship with Lamonica, the 49-year-old Hosanna pastor, Wall said. Through that relationship, the men raped each other’s children, he said.

The rapes stopped in 2003, after Lamonica’s and Bernard’s wives threw them out of their houses and the men moved into the church, Wall told jurors. It wasn’t until the Bernards attempted to reconcile in late 2004 that their daughter began to speak of the abuse, Wall said.

In the meantime, Trey Bernard and others began writing how they abused the children in spiral notebooks. Two of Bernard’s victims also began writing about the abuse at the request of their mother.

“It’s like rats jumping off the sinking ship,” Wall told the jury. “Once it became known that this stuff was going on outside of the group, all of this became serious.”

Throughout the five days of testimony, Wall showed the jury Bernard’s writings, the two victims’ writings, videotaped statements from three children and statements from investigators outlining the three times Bernard confessed the abuse to authorities.

Two young men, one of whom Bernard was charged with raping, testified that Bernard never touched them. However, Wall got them to admit on the stand that their recantations began after both their parents were arrested.

The boys also admitted that they had to say that Bernard never touched them in order to be consistent when they testify at their parents’ trials.

In his closing argument, Wall read excerpts of a 211-page journal Bernard kept in which he outlined how he went from touching his daughter in the bathtub to raping her.

The jury had been allowed to read the journal during the trial.

A couple of jurors cried Monday while Wall read some of the more graphic details of the abuse.

When Bernard testified Monday, he maintained that his ex-wife concocted the rape stories in order to get sole custody of their daughter.

After voluntarily leaving the house, Bernard testified, he moved into the church, but never had sex with Lamonica.

However, over time, women at the church, including his wife, forced him to write that he raped his own daughter and Lamonica’s two sons, Bernard testified.

If he didn’t, his wife threatened to call police and make sure he would never see his daughter again, he said.

Bernard said that if he left the church, he felt he would lose everything, including his only child.

“If they had told me to write I was the Easter Bunny, I would to get out of that insane asylum,” Bernard testified.

Once, at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office in May 2005, Bernard said he felt he had to confess to the detectives questioning him because of what he had already written.

“Once you start down that path, there is no way out of it,” Bernard testified.

Wall and Perrilloux said that they were pleased with the verdict.

“I never tried anything like it,” Wall said to reporters. “I don’t know anyone who has.”

Witnesses Deny Abuse at Hosanna Church

By DEBRA LEMOINE
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Dec 2, 2007

AMITE — Two of the three children Austin “Trey” Bernard III is accused of raping maintained on the witness stand Saturday that they never were abused.

The young men, now ages 17 and 21, and Trey Bernard’s now 7-year-old daughter are the three children who, in 2005, accused seven members of the now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula of sexually abusing them.

The young girl is not expected to take the stand, but her mother previously has said the child maintains she was abused.

Trey Bernard, 39, of Hammond, is the first church member to go to trial in the 21st Judicial District Court in Amite on charges of aggravated rape of a 2-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.

On the stand as a prosecution witness, the elder man said that at the time of the alleged sexual abuse, he was told by his mother, Robbin Lamonica, and Trey Bernard’s now ex-wife, Nicole Bernard, to write down the incidents of anal and oral sex forced on him by Trey Bernard and others as well as the abuse he witnessed of the girl and younger boy.

Robbin Lamonica awaits trial on charges of oral sexual battery. The young men’s father, Louis Lamonica, also awaits trial on charges of aggravated rape.

The elder brother testified that Nicole Bernard began to ask him about the abuse after her daughter became old enough to begin talking in early 2005.

“Nicole would say if this happened and you say it didn’t happen, you will go to jail,” the older man said. “If I even thought there was even a remote chance it happened, I said it did.”

The younger man said on the stand that he thinks Lois Mowbray, who was arrested in 2005 but never charged, directed his mother to make him write down the abuse incidents. He even said the women would suggest writing topics to the boys and let the boys fill in the details.

“My mom’s main focus was Dad,” the younger man said. “Then, it’s like, ‘let’s put Trey in there.’”

The older boy did not mention the presence of Mowbray.

While each of the men was on the stand, Assistant District Attorney Don Wall spent more than hour asking them to verify statements they made to numerous people complaining that they were victims of sexual abuse.

The older man verified all the past statements he made to his psychologist, a forensic pediatrician, a social worker with the state Office of Community Services in Livingston, an interviewer with the Child Advocacy Center in Livingston and various law enforcement personnel.

The younger man said he remembered talking about the rape but did not recall some details related to the abuse or some of the people he had told.

In a series of direct questions from Wall, the older man related that he began to recant the abuse allegations after both of his parents were jailed in connection with the Hosanna Church investigation and he had to live with his grandfather.

“I’m saying now it didn’t happen,” the older boy testified of the alleged sexual molestation.

Wall also asked the older man to explain how much it costs his parents to be out of jail.

The older man said each of his parents pays a $300 monthly fee for the electronic monitoring that allows them to live at home.

“If they didn’t have to do that, they could buy you a car,” Wall quipped.

Wall didn’t press the younger man, who testified he has been living in a mental institution since September, as hard as he did the older one.

However, the teenager also admitted he began to recant his accusations of sexual abuse after both of his parents were arrested and he moved in with a grandmother he hadn’t seen in seven years.

Wall also had the men admit that in order to say on the witness stands at the upcoming trials of their parents that their parents never abused them, they must first say Trey Bernard never abused them.

“And the six or eight times you told all these other people, that is just a lie?” Wall asked.

“Basically,” the younger man responded.

After each man’s testimony, Wall had their journals, detailing their alleged abuse, made available for examination by the jury.

The jurors read each journal for about a half-hour each in court.

Copies of those journals were provided to The Advocate upon request.

The young men’s journals contained nearly identical information. They wrote that Trey Bernard and others forced them to have anal and oral sex. They also wrote they witnessed acts of anal, oral and vaginal rape of Trey Bernard’s daughter.

In an interview outside of the courtroom, Bernard’s attorney said he thought the men’s testimony went well for his client.

“I am pleased with the testimony,” defense attorney Al Bensabat said. “Obviously it bolsters our theory of the case which you will find out Monday.”

The state is expected to rest Monday morning. Bensabat said he will call at least three witnesses, including Trey Bernard on Monday.

State District Judge Doug Hughes told members of the jury Saturday that he thinks the case will be given to them for a verdict on Monday as well.