A Louisiana pastor, who once competed on the reality TV series “Survivor”, has been convicted of child abuse after taping students’ mouths shut.
John Raymond, 62, was charged with cruelty to juveniles stemming from his disciplinary actions at a Christian school he founded in Slidell.
Raymond had openly admitted to the abuse in online posts, and on another occasion allegedly held his hand over the mouth of a four-year-old boy until the child went “limp.” He was charged with second-degree child cruelty over that incident.
Jurors reached guilty verdicts after only an hour on Monday following a six-day trial at district court in Covington, according to Nola.com.
Raymond’s sentencing date has not been set but he could spend decades behind bars. Child cruelty carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and second-degree child cruelty carries up to a 40-year sentence.
Raymond competed on “Survivor: Thailand” in 2002 and was the first contestant to be voted off the island.
Raymond had maintained his innocence throughout the trial and claimed to have been the victim of “cancel culture.”
“I am not guilty. I’ve never been cruel to a child, and I love children,” he said after the verdict was returned.
However, Raymond did not deny taping the childrens’ mouths shut, and had provided a detailed account of one incident in a post to his school’s website in April 2022.
He claimed his actions, involving three students, had been in defense of a member of the teaching staff.
“I pulled out a roll of clear Scotch packing tape and said, ‘I’m going to give you a choice. We can either go downstairs and call your parents and you can wait in the lobby to be suspended, or you can get tape on your mouth and learn how to be quiet during class,’” he wrote.
“The students all chose tape and I pulled off one piece at a time and carefully placed it over their mouths making sure that it did not touch their nose or interfere with their breathing. At no time was tape wrapped around any student’s head.”
Raymond said he had asked the students if they were “in pain or hurting in any way” and that all three “unanimously shook their heads.”
The pastor was arrested on April 7 on three counts of cruelty to juveniles. He was arrested again on May 9 and charged with a further count after another student came forward.
Police said other witnesses, including former teachers, faculty, and parents, associated with Lakeside Christian Academy, came forward to report additional incidents of juvenile cruelty, some dating back to 2017.
One incident involved a four-year-old student, who would occasionally have “tantrums.” Raymond had once allegedly placed his hand over the boy’s nose and mouth, preventing him from breathing, to the point of him going “limp”, according to police.
In another incident, Raymond allegedly held the boy upside down by his ankles and repeatedly “whipped him on the buttocks”.
Raymond had said his actions were in line with the Bible and that he was a victim of “cancel culture.”
His defense attorney had argued at trial that many of the 23 witnesses brought by prosecution were unreliable, and that the case was ultimately “in the crosshairs” of a “culture war.”
Joseph Long framed the case during opening statements as “the left against the right, the conservatives against the woke.”
“Make no mistake, folks, this country is in the middle of a culture war,” Long told jurors. “In Europe, parents can’t even physically discipline their children anymore. It’s coming. This is government overreach.”
