Bossier City pastor faces charges of child porn, sexual abuse of animals
BOSSIER CITY, La. (KSLA) — A Bossier City pastor is out of jail after having been booked on charges of allegedly possessing and distributing images and videos of sexual abuse of children, and sexually abusing animals.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office made the announcement Friday, May 21.
“My office and I will continue doing everything we legally can to protect the children of Louisiana. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to bring child predators to justice,” Landry said.
Seby Chemmampallil, 36, of Shreveport, is charged with two counts each of:
- Possession of pornography involving juveniles under the age of 13,
- Distribution of pornography involving juveniles under the age of 13, and,
- Sexual abuse of animals
He was booked into the Bossier Parish Maximum-Security Facility at Plain Dealing at 4:20 p.m. Friday, May 21, booking records show.
The Diocese of Shreveport released the following statement Friday about Chemmampallil’s arrest.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released a statement Monday, May 24 saying they hope Catholic officials will use all resources at their disposal to share the news of Chemmampallil’s arrest with the community in which he worked so anyone who might have witnessed his alleged crimes can come forward to make a report with police.
Read the full statement from SNAP below:
“A priest from the Diocese of Shreveport has been arrested and charged with child pornography and sexual abuse of an animal. We hope Catholic officials will use all resources at their disposal to share this news with each community where this cleric worked and urge anyone who may have seen or suspected crimes to come forward and make a report to police.
“By our count, the arrest of Rev. Seby Shan Chemmampallil is the tenth arrest this year of a Catholic priest or staffer on charges related to sexual abuse. While Rev. Chemmampallil has not been accused of directly harming a minor, child pornography is nonetheless a serious crime that perpetuates the abuse of the child depicted in the images. We are grateful to the law enforcement officials who have intervened in this case and hope that this arrest helps stem the scourge and spread of child pornography.
“We are encouraged that Rev. Chemmampallil was immediately suspended from his position when Catholic officials learned of the allegations against him. Now that this step has been taken, we hope that Church leaders in Shreveport will use every resource at their disposal to share the news about Rev. Chemmampallil and encourage others who may have been victimized or have suspicions to come forward to police.”
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