THIBODAUX OFFICER CHARGED WITH DOMESTIC ABUSE, SEXUAL BATTERY
WWL - New Orleans,LA,USA
by Tom Planchet
November 13, 2009
[Excerpts] A police officer has been arrested on domestic abuse charges following two separate incidents between the officer and a woman during which she was the victim of a stabbing and sexual battery, according to Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre and Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon. Michael Dion, 31, was charged with domestic battery, aggravated assault with a firearm and sexual battery... Dion threatened the victim with his police baton and a knife and during a struggle, the woman was stabbed in the leg. The second incident occurred on November 8, they said. In that incident, Dion is alleged to have enticed the woman into his home where an argument ensued and the victim said she was held against her will for several hours during which she was threatened with a gun and had sexual battery committed upon her...... [Full article here]
THIBODAUX OFFICER ARRESTED
Deputies say charges stem from two incidents
2TheAdvocate
Advocate River parishes bureau
Nov 14, 2009
[Excerpts] A Thibodaux police officer arrested Friday is accused of holding a woman against her will for three hours at his home Sunday, threatening her with a handgun and committing sexual battery against her, Lafourche Parish sheriff’s deputies said. Officer Michael Dion, 31, 804 Jackson St., Thibodaux, surrendered Friday and was booked into the Lafourche Parish Detention Center in Thibodaux on counts of domestic abuse battery, aggravated assault with a firearm and sexual battery, deputies said in a statement. His arrest followed a joint investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and Thibodaux Police Department... In the Halloween incident, which led to the domestic battery count, Dion threatened the victim with his police baton and a knife. In a struggle for the knife, the victim, his ex-girlfriend with whom he has a child, received a non-life threatening wound to the leg... [Thibodaux Police Chief Craig] Melancon said Dion was suspended without pay Friday pending an investigation and a civil service hearing in the next 60 days where Dion will be able to answer the findings against him... [Full article here]
POLICE SAY COP HELD GIRLFRIEND AT GUNPOINT
Houma Courier
by John DeSantis
November 14, 2009
[Excerpts] A Thibodaux officer allegedly abused his girlfriend on two occasions, stabbing her in the leg during a Halloween night fight and sexually assaulting her at gunpoint a week later. Michael Dion, 31, 804 Jackson St., is charged with domestic-abuse battery, aggravated assault with a firearm and sexual battery, said Sgt. Lesley Hill Peters, spokeswoman for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office... Dion, who surrendered his badge and gun, has been suspended without pay, said Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon... Early Sunday morning, Dion allegedly coerced the woman into returning to the Jackson Street house, Peters said. Police didn’t say how he coerced her. The woman alleges Dion, armed with a gun, prevented her from leaving for three hours. “During that time,” [Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Sgt. Lesley Hill] Peters says in a written statement, “Dion threatened the victim with a handgun and committed the sexual battery.” The woman has secured a restraining order against Dion... Melancon said he and other police employees knew that Dion and his girlfriend, parents of a 3-year-old boy, had a volatile relationship. They frequently argued, though no one knew of any violence between the couple... Police learned of the allegations against Dion when the woman called to complain of Dion’s behavior, Melancon said. “She was told to come in and make a complaint”... Sheriff’s Office detectives skilled in handling domestic-violence cases conducted the investigation, Melancon said, taking meticulous care go build their case... “This case was handled like any other,” Melancon said... [Full article here]
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Former cop won’t serve time for domestic abuse
ReplyDeleteRaymond Legendre
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 12:45 a.m.
THIBODAUX — A former Thibodaux Police officer pleaded guilty to domestic abuse battery in district court, but will not face jail time because it is his first offense, prosecutors said Friday.
Michael Dion was scheduled to go to trial Thursday on two counts of domestic abuse battery and one count of violation of a protective order, but instead entered a guilty plea to one count of domestic abuse battery as part of a plea agreement that netted him a five-month suspended sentence, one year of unsupervised probation and 32 hours of community service.
While Dion won’t spend a day in jail, his conviction is important because he is now banned from owning or possessing a firearm, thus effectively ending his law-enforcement career, Assistant District Attorney Diana Sanders said.
“I don’t think that man should be allowed to work in law-enforcement for what he did,” Sanders said.
The victim attended court Thursday and agreed to the plea bargain. She did not make a victim impact statement.
“She’s still afraid,” Sanders said of the victim, who has a child with Dion. “She still has some apprehension. But it’s a good thing they’re not together and she has a protective order against him.”
Dion, 32, 804 Jackson St., Thibodaux, was arrested in November after the victim reported being attacked by him on two separate occasions — one in which he cut her leg and another in which he held her captive inside his home.
Authorities initially charged Dion with domestic abuse battery, aggravated assault with a firearm and sexual battery, but those charges were later downgraded.
Dion cut the woman on the leg during a struggle Halloween night. However, evidence showed she had grabbed the knife to protect herself, and that she was cut after a struggle resulted in the weapon being dropped, Sanders said. Therefore, the assault charge was dropped.
The sexual battery charge, which allegedly happened Nov. 8, was downgraded to a second count of domestic abuse battery after the victim met with prosecutors. Sanders declined to go into details about the charge because of its sexual nature.
District Attorney Cam Morvant II said Dion’s plea agreement had nothing to do with him being a former police officer.
“I feel like police officers should be held to a higher standard,” he said, adding each case has to be evaluated on an individual basis.
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20101002/ARTICLES/101009895?p=2&tc=pg
Neither Dion’s attorney, Jerald Block, nor Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon returned a phone call seeking comment Friday afternoon. Dion’s home phone number was unlisted.
Staff Writer Raymond Legendre can be reached at 448-7617 or raymond.legendre@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @cometcrime.