Rape victim who lost child custody to rapist claims he ALSO drugged and raped their minor daughter
This article contains information about sexual assault that could be traumatic for some readers. Discretion is advised.
HAMMOND, LOUISIANA: Crysta Abelseth, now 32 years old, claimed that her abuser John Barnes was never charged because of his close ties with the local police department. She also accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting their child. Abelseth pressed criminal charges against Barnes in July 2015 for raping her. She filed a report with Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office for simple rape, detailing everything that was done to her. Abelseth said she waited to file the police report because she did not know the law. Abelseth is now a married woman and a mother of five. The incident happened decades ago in 2005. Abelseth met John Barnes in the City of Hammond back in 2005. She said he offered to take her home after a night out at a local restaurant with friends. She was 16 at the time, and he was 30. Barnes raped her in his house.
Abelseth told DailyMail that she believes her attacker has avoided imprisonment, and even being charged, because of his status in the town as a contractor for the police. Barnes runs a graphic design company, and Ponchatoula police are among his clients. "He has openly threatened me, saying he is well connected in the justice system and in the courts," Abelseth told DailyMail. "I think people can put two and two together," she added.
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On February 25, Abesleth in court documents accused Barnes of sexually abusing their daughter. "Minor child contacted me (Abesleth) on February 23, 2022, with the suspicion that her father had drugged and sexually assaulted her two nights in a row,' the court documents state. Abelseth stated that the Children's Hospital of New Orleans confirmed "evidence of forced entry congruent with sexual assault". In the papers, she states: "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," said Abesleth, before adding in her bombshell statement, "Now it is alleged that he has committed the same heinous crime on our 15-year-old daughter." On March 18, the allegations were dismissed by the court, which found that "medical evidence does not support allegations in the petition". On March 20, she lost custody of her daughter and has been forced to pay Barnes, 46, child support. Furthermore, she says that Barnes has completely blocked their court-mandated daily phone calls.
Barnes won the custody by accusing Abelseth of buying a cellphone for their 16-year-old daughter, which Barnes said the teenager was using to 'sext' her boyfriend and post sexually explicit TikToks. However, Abelsleth claimed that she doesn't know anything about this. Barnes, upon being asked by DailyMail for his response, he replied "The responses are in the court document's official record". He said that Abelseth told the child to invent the claims of sexual abuse, in a bid to have him arrested. He claimed in court documents that Abelseth was allowing the teenager to have sex with her boyfriend, and that the phone was being used for the pair to 'sext' each other. He also complained that the child was taken to see a counsellor without any need, and without his permission. The pair will next meet in court on July 15.