Bernice, LA (1/31/2023) – Union Parish Sheriff’s Office (UPSO) reports a Bernice man was arrested for sex crimes against a 14-year-old.
Jonathan Lee Ates, age 41, of Bernice, has been arrested following a complaint of sexual abuse of a juvenile.
In November 2022, UPSO was contacted by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services about a complaint they received concerning a fourteen-year-old female victim.
Detectives from the UPSO Criminal Investigation Division launched an investigation. They learned that the arrestee allegedly sexually abused the victim periodically for the past eight years since she was just six years old.
An arrest warrant was issued, and Ates was arrested and booked into the Union Parish Detention Center. He is charged with Aggravated Crimes Against Nature.
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A law enforcement-related agency has provided this information as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation or arrested and charged with a crime have not been convicted of any criminal offense. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
