A Louisiana woman has lost custody of her teenage daughter to her alleged rapist—and now she’s accusing him of drugging and raping their child.
The whole sordid affair began back in 2005 when Crysta Abelseth, who is now 32, claims she accepted a ride home from John Barnes in the small Louisiana town of Ponchatoula. Located some 50 miles north of New Orleans, Ponchatoula is a typical small Louisiana town of only 6,000 people.
Abelseth was 16 at the time, and Barnes was 30. As the age of consent in the state is 17, any sexual contact between the two is considered statutory rape, whether it was consensual or not. The punishment for such a felony, in the severest cases, can be life in prison. Abelseth alleges that Barnes has avoided criminal charges due to his status in the community, which includes being a contractor for the local police.
“He has openly threatened me, saying he is well connected in the justice system and in the courts,” she explained in an interview with The Daily Mail.
“I think people can put two and two together,” she concluded, when asked why Barnes managed to avoid prosecution for so long.
According to Abelseth, her nightmare began when she visited the Ponchatoula Pub as a teenager 17 years ago, and proceeded to become “highly intoxicated.” Barnes was there, and offered to give her a ride home; Abelseth alleges that he took her instead to his house, and sexually assaulted her. Ashamed, Abelseth never told anyone of the incident—but her subsequent pregnancy was impossible to hide.
Everyone assumed that her boyfriend at the time was the father, and Abelseth did nothing to discourage that assumption.
“I felt people would shame me,” Abelseth told The Daily Mail. “They’d say, you shouldn’t be doing this, doing that. They are shaming me now. But at this point, I don’t care.”
Somehow, in 2010, Barnes learned that he was the girl’s father, and that’s when Abelseth’s life turned into a nightmare. A DNA test was requested, which proved beyond doubt that he was the father, and then followed protracted legal wrangling that eventually resulted in Barnes being awarded joint custody of their daughter in 2015. Now, as of March 20, Barnes has been awarded sole custody of their daughter, and Abelseth has been forced by the courts to pay child support to Barnes, who is now 46.
On February 25, she filed court documents accusing Barnes of sexually abusing their daughter.
“Minor child contacted me (her mother) on February 23, 2022 with the suspicion that her father had drugged and sexually assaulted her two nights in a row,” the documents allege. “My daughter, minor child, was conceived as the product of the defendant raping me when I was a minor child of 16 years of age. I suspect drugs were used by him to sedate me as I was unable to move while he raped me. Now it is alleged that he has committed the same heinous crime on our 15-year-old daughter.”
Nevertheless, on March 18, the court dismissed the allegations, finding that “medical evidence does not support allegations in petition.”
So, for the time being, it seems that Barnes will retain sole custody of his daughter. As far as Abelseth’s allegations of rape are concerned, that should be easy enough to ascertain given the age difference between Barnes and Abelseth, and the age of the child who is the alleged product of that rape.
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12 thoughts on “Louisiana mother who lost custody of teen daughter to her alleged rapist claims he’s raped daughter, too”
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The teenager needs to be removed from the Fathers home immediately if she says she’s been raped and turned over to her mother. Not rocket science when the age difference isn’t disputed!
6 spams before you get to any comment to read.
I figured he’d get away with molesting the/his daughter. Just saying
I have questions
Why did the father not go to jail once they proved he was the father and that he had sex with a minor?
Why did the mother lose custody? My grandson’s mom has done or let some awful things go down but the courts never sided with my son or his son’s desire to live with him. Point being the courts almost always side with the mother and if she was in deed rapped that would be even more reason to not remove the daughter from her care.
If the daughter really felt she was raped why not go to the authorities? Or if she did why is that not mentions in the article.
How did a 16 year old get drunk in a bar in this century? I know when I was a kid people, not me, had fake IDs but it is pretty hard to fake those these days so was the bartender ignoring her age?
Some stuff is not adding up for me. I would like the journalist who penned this article to do a follow up answering all of our questions as no doubt more people than me will have questions that should be answered if the journalist is a good one.
Yeah, something don’t add up here. Seems pretty weak.
Incompetent legal representation?
Then you have to add incompetent law enforcement as well 30 does not go into 16. Age of consent in Louisiana is 17
Besides even with a team of the best lawyers it is near impossible for the man to gain custody. There mayu be good valid answers to everything but the questions do arise..
By giving birth & the DNA test, rape was confirmed. When the law doesn’t uphold the law, then there is no law. Just justice. Time for a shot in the dark., to solve the problem. It also goes to show you to say something when it happens. These small southern towns are corrupt & Louisiana is Corrupt!
A 2X4 to the back of the rapist’s head might solve this.
You forgot the 10 penny nails hammered into the end of that 2×4
I’d use 16 penny. A lot longer and thicker. Just saying
What kind of places have the US and Canada become as this is all too common.
A country of groomers and/or people who ignore groomers. A country were there is more than 1 person who uses the term minor attracted person. We have sunk that low .