Duane Champagne, a former physical education teacher at Sts. Leo-Seton Catholic School, has two days to register as a sex offender with the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office following his guilty plea Thursday to two counts of video voyeurism in state district court in Baton Rouge, according to The Advocate. The 44-year-old Breaux Bridge resident will be sentenced Sept. 15 and faces up to two years in prison and $2,000 fine. In the meantime, Champagne will be examined by a Baton Rouge physician to determine if he should be placed in a sex offender treatment program.
Champagne was arrested for snapping close-up photos of pre-pubescent girls in bathing suits two years ago at Blue Bayou Water Park in Baton Rouge. Police said the follow-up investigation revealed more than 1,000 similar images on Champagne’s home computer. Champagne admitted to digitally manipulating some of the photos for the purpose of sexual arousal. He was fired by the Lafayette Diocese within a week of his arrest and, according to The Advocate, is currently unemployed. Champagne also worked as a gym teacher in the Baton Rouge public school system.
... written by triumph110 , July 17, 2009 - 12:26 pm
This is happening all over the country. Go to www.schoolteachernews.com and click on the Scandal page. This year they have documented over 275 of these types of incidents. In 2008 they found 478 of these kinds of cases.
... written by colonelmustard , July 17, 2009 - 03:28 pm
Devil's advocate triumph... There were 4.0 million teachers in classrooms across the U.S. in 2006 (US dept labor stat) and I went to the website you linked and there were 236 "scandals" involving sexual impropiety among teachers. That adds up to .0059% of teachers. Is this really happening "all over the country"? I'm sure .0059% of firefighters, doctors, cops, lawyers, judges, and priests are also involved in sexual scandal. Even if we add several thousand unreported cases to the final tally, it still amounts to less than 1% of all teachers. AND if we go with your numbers (2009: .0068%) and (2008:.012%) both years the stats are very very small. I still feel safe with my kids in public schools.
... written by Plumbyboy , July 19, 2009 - 05:11 pm
apparently you people are practing censorship...i sent two comments on this story and ya'll didnt show em...guess the truth hurts..
... written by Myrick6 , July 20, 2009 - 07:57 am
Statistics don't mean a thing to me. One is too many for me, especially when its right here in our community. I'm particularly concerned with "manipulating" the images. How many of those images were of girls right here in Acadiana? How were they "manipulated"? What happened to the images after they were manipulated? How many images of Louisiana girls did he doctor up and send out into the universe of the internet? How many images were from the school in Lafayette where the children and parents trusted him? He makes me so angry. He could be destroying the lives, certainly the childhood, of many local girls. I hope he gets a severe sentence and I surely hope "you reap what you sow" applies to this man. I can think of plenty of harsh things he deserves and I hope some of them come his way.
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Duane Champagne, a former physical education teacher at Sts. Leo-Seton Catholic School, has two days to register as a sex offender with the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office following his guilty plea Thursday to two counts of video voyeurism in state district court in Baton Rouge, according to The Advocate. The 44-year-old Breaux Bridge resident will be sentenced Sept. 15 and faces up to two years in prison and $2,000 fine. In the meantime, Champagne will be examined by a Baton Rouge physician to determine if he should be placed in a sex offender treatment program.
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