Minister Among 10 Arrested In Assumption Parish Child Predator Sting

Ten men from Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Florida are facing charges after an undercover sting operation targeting suspected child predators wrapped up in Assumption Parish.

The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office ran the three day operation, called Operation Bottom Dweller, from August 26 through August 28. Investigators say the sting targeted people using electronic communications or internet platforms to solicit or exploit people they believed were minors. Everyone arrested faces charges of indecent behavior and computer aided solicitation of a minor.

Among those arrested was Malcolm Barnes III, 35, of New Iberia, who authorities identified as a minister. Barnes was already out on 150,000 dollars bond in St. Mary Parish on a prior charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile when he was picked up in this operation.

Another arrestee, Lesli Joel Calix Sarmiento, 36, of Slidell, is accused of traveling to meet someone he believed was under 16. Authorities say Sarmiento is an unlawfully present Honduran national who had previously been removed from the United States, and he is being held on a Homeland Security Investigations detainer.

The other men arrested were Brian Gilton, 38, of Napoleonville; Joey Gravois, 52, of Vacherie; Jack Stutsman, 22, of Haughton; Delmer Wesley Messer, 24, of Manchester, Kentucky; Shelton Smith, 24, of Scott; John Bang, 60, of Vancleave, Mississippi; Dustin H. Caldwell, 47, of Cocoa, Florida; and Chaz Michael Fromnethal, 32, of Metairie, who was also booked as a fugitive and charged with illegal possession of a stolen firearm.

The operation is part of a broader statewide push against online child exploitation. Attorney General Liz Murrill has expanded the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force from 8 members to 80 and established partnerships with all 64 parish sheriff’s offices in Louisiana.

“We will continue to vigorously pursue these individuals and send them to prison where they can never again harm a child,” the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office said in announcing the arrests.

All ten men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

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