By: ELIZABETH WEST
Associate Editor
An Evangeline Parish grand jury issued a true bill last Wednesday after sufficient evidence concerning a rape case was presented to them by Assistant District Attorney Kelly Tate on behalf of the State.
The true bill, or written decision of the grand jury, now allows the Evangeline Parish District Attorney’s office to indict, or formally charge, Wilson J. Vallery for one count of indecent behavior with a juvenile, one count of sexual battery, and one count of aggravated rape.
According to the Mamou Police Department, the acts that Vallery has been accused of were first reported in June of 2014, but when investigators at the time “ran into a dead end” the case was closed.
After MPD Assistant Chief of Police Phyllis Soileau and MPD Detective Brandon Stagg, under Chief Brent Zackery, re-opened the cold case, they were able to gather enough information to issue a warrant for the arrest of Vallery, who was living in Church Point at the time.
Vallery was originally booked into jail on May 20, 2016 on two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, two counts of sexual battery, and two counts of first degree rape.
At this time, no trial date has been set.