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Silence from the Livingston Parish sheriff after detectives botched sex crimes case involving Tiki Tubing owner
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LIVINGSTON - A woman is facing sexual battery charges, and the family of the victim has received only silence from the sheriff's office that admits it mishandled the case.
Patricia Fore and John Fore, whose business—Tiki Tubing—shut down in the wake of their arrests for separate allegations of sexual battery. Patricia's arrest comes three years after she reportedly assaulted a young girl in 2019.
The sheriff's office is facing mounting pressure to provide answers about what went wrong. On Wednesday June 1, WBRZ attempted to speak with Sheriff Jason Ard in person, but he was quick to dismiss any questions.
"We already sent you the information. It's in your email," Sheriff Ard said.
Text messages, emails and calls to the sheriff's spokesperson have gone unanswered for nearly two weeks.
Sheriff Ard released a statement, saying he reviewed the complaint and "Realized that the case had not been pursued as diligently as it should have been," back in 2019.
WBRZ has asked for days about what that means—and if the same detectives are working today.
The sheriff's office says it can't answer that, and wasn't sure how many agents it has investigating sex crimes complaints.
After an interview with WBRZ Investigative Unit, the mom of the victim is still frustrated.
The victim's family tells us they haven't heard a peep from the department, despite asking for information about the investigation into the owners of Tiki Tubing.
The trouble started three summers ago when her daughter went to the home of John and Patricia Fore with some friends to swim.
She says Patricia Fore victimized her teenage daughter.
"She raped her. She and her friends told me immediately, she was severely distraught when she came home."
The alleged victim's mother says she immediately filed a complaint against Patricia Fore at the Livingston Parish Sheriff office back in 2019, but says detectives told her they wanted more evidence to move forward.
"We felt powerless. We wanted something to be done, and nothing was being done. Who knows how many other victims there were between then and now?" the victim's mother said.
Patricia Fore was arrested on sexual battery charges last week, three years later, only after her husband's arrest in an unrelated case.
The mom says it's John Fore's arrest that got the cages rattled, when she started calling and demanding an arrest in her daughter's case.
"The last time I talked to them they had nothing to say to me. That was the response every time I called for at least a year," said the victim's mother.
The family of the victim says the department's ignoring them too.
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