State reaches six plea deal involving 2009 child sex case in Kaplan

Six out of eight defendants involved in a December 2009 child sex case out of Vermilion Parish have now reached plea agreements with the prosecutors.

The most recent occurred last week when the Assistant District Attorney Laurie Hulin reached a plea agreement with 22-year-old Bryant Mire of Kaplan. Mire is the most recent to enter a plea in a case that involves a juvenile who was older than 14 years old at the time of the crime.

Mire was first being charged with molestation of a juvenile, which is a felony. However, the charge had to be lowered to a misdemeanor charge of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

Mire was given a six-month suspended sentence and was given credit for time served. He was ordered to a pay a $500 fine and will do 72 hours of community service.

Hulin said the reason the charge was lowered from a felony to a misdemeanor was because of how old Mire was when the crime occurred with the female from Kaplan. Had Mire, who was 17 at the time of the crime, been four years older than the female when he had sex with her, he would have been charged with a felony. Hulin said Mire was just over three and half years older than the female, making it impossible to prosecute him for a felony.

Last month for the same case, Jeremy Kline, 24, of Kaplan, reached a plea agreement of one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

He received a four-year suspended sentence, two years of supervised probation and a 15-year sex offender registration requirement.

Kristie Marceaux, 37, also of Kaplan, who is charged with aggravated rape and principal to several other charges including felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and forcible rape, has yet to go to trial.

Marceaux is being charged with aggravated rape because of two separate incidents dealing with a child under the age of 13. Her trial is expected to take place late in the year or the start of 2012.

Hulin has already secured pleas from Marceaux’s husband, Adam Marceaux, 31, who pleaded to indecent behavior with a juvenile in March. He received a six-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended, three years of supervised probation and a 25 year sex offender registration requirement, Hulin said.

The other co-defendants received the following sentences:

Ben Hargrave, 23, of Kaplan, pleaded in October to felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile. He received an eight-year prison sentence with all but two years suspended, one of which can be served with an ankle bracelet under home incarceration; five-years of supervised release and a 15-year sex offender registration requirement, Hulin said.

Brennan Lebouef, 25, of Kaplan, pleaded in July to one count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and received a five-year suspended sentence, two years of supervised probation and a 15-year sex offender registration requirement, Hulin said.

Brennan Soirez, 26, of Kaplan, received a five-year suspended sentence, three years of supervised probation and a 15-year sex offender registration requirement when he pleaded in March to one count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

Hargrave, Lebouef and Soirez all have agreed to cooperate with the state

Justin Harris has yet to go to trial dealing with the case.