Slidell man who blamed young victim found guilty of indecent behavior with child under 13 | A Tammany

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A 47-year-old Slidell man was found guilty Thursday by a St. Tammany Parish jury of indecent behavior with a child under 13, according to a press release from 22nd Judicial District Attorney Warren Montgomery.

Antoine Asara Hartley will be sentenced on February 16 by State District Judge Reginald Badeaux, who presided over the trial. He faces life imprisonment.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office received a call in August 2019 complaining that an adult male had made inappropriate comments to a minor, the statement said.

When deputies responded, the victim’s mother told St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies that her daughter said Hartley touched her inappropriately.

The child told officers that she and her sister often visited a neighbor to babysit and that Hartley did the same, according to the statement. Hartley made them uncomfortable by saying things like “if you were older, we would go out and touch the victim’s breasts and thigh,” the prosecutor’s office said.

In a video shown to the jury, Hartley said the sisters were to blame. His dating comments were intended to scare them off, he said, complaining that one was wearing a bikini that was too small and the other was wearing a revealing skirt.

Hartley had previously been convicted of two counts of indecent assault on a minor and aggravated battery.

Hartley’s prior convictions include two counts of indecent assault on a minor, aggravated assault and failure to register as a sex offender. Moreover, he had been released from prison just a few months before August 2019, after serving a sentence for forced rape.

His attorney told the jury his crimes were 30 years ago, and he learned his lesson.

Hartley faces life in prison without the benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence. He will be sentenced on February 16, 2023.

Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Authement and Brandi Dohre prosecuted the case. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the matter.

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