ST. FRANCISVILLE – A former politician pleaded guilty last week to two counts of indecency involving juveniles.

David Opperman was arrested in December 2020 on charges of carnal knowledge of a juvenile. He was accused of committing that crime with a 15-year-old between August 2000 and July 2001.

He was previously charged with aggravated rape and sexual battery of a juvenile. Opperman was accused of forcing himself onto a 13-year-old in 2003.

Opperman, 60, was sentenced to 14 years as part of a plea deal with prosecutors with nine of those years being suspended, according to the Louisiana Attorney General's Office. He will be put on three years of probation upon his release, according to court records, and must register as a sex offender.

He must turn himself in on Aug. 10 to begin his sentence.

The state Attorney General’s office prosecuted the case after District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla – a political adversary – recused his office.

Opperman, an attorney, originally argued the charges were political retaliation after he campaigned against D’Aquilla, the longtime district attorney for East and West Feliciana parishes.