Lafayette Attorney Denies Rape Allegations as Part of Boy Scouts Investigations
UPDATE: (4:21 P.M.)
Barry Rozas and his attorney Kevin Stockstill will join us tomorrow morning at 7:20 on Acadiana's Morning News.
UPDATE: (4:00 P.M.)
Barry J Rozas held a press conference this afternoon where he vehemently denied the allegation that he hurt anyone, anytime. He stood at the podium with his attorney, Kevin Stockstill.
Rozas says that no one has heard his side of the story. He says he openly wanted to give a statement and be interviewed by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office in reference to the allegations, but that has not happened.
Stockstill says they were made aware of the allegation after the person making the allegation called a hotline for victims of sexual abuse in the Boy Scout at some point at the end of last year in relation to a class-action lawsuit. He added that this situation was alleged to have happened in 2004.
Rozas says that his sons were in scouting, and he was a scout leader. The husband and father says he would never do any like he has been accused of doing.
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Officials at the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office say a Lafayette man has been arrested after the Boy Scouts asked for an investigation in November of 2020.
Spokeswoman for the department, Valerie Ponseti, says that they began an investigation after a request by the Boy Scouts to look into complaints of possible allegations of misconduct with juveniles.
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office arrested 52-year-old Barry J Rozas of Lafayette yesterday on a charge of First Degree Rape.
Ponseti says that the investigation is still ongoing, and it apparently covers a span of time starting in 1955 and ending in 2012. Their investigation is looking into 28 different allegations/complaints that date back to 1955.
The spokeswoman adds that while some of the complaints fall outside of the jurisdiction of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, they have tasked the Criminal Investigative Division with investigating some of the allegations and complaints. She says they are working to identify the exact number of suspects.
Ponseti says,
"As a result of one of these investigations, detectives applied for a warrant to arrest Barry Rozas on 1st Degree Rape. This warrant was granted by Commissioner Douget, and Rozas was arrested February 2, 2021."