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Carolyn Van Houten

Hours after The Washington Post published <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/new-orleans-police-child-sexual-abuse-rodney-vicknair/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001" target=_blank>an investigation into a New Orleans police officer</a> who sexually abused a teen he met responding to a rape report, a judge delayed the trial for her civil case against the city.

The victim’s lawyers, in a motion filed Thursday, accused the city of withholding “highly relevant text messages.” The texts<b> </b>show the head of the New Orleans Police Department was notified of “potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer” days before that officer sexually assaulted her in 2020, when she was 15.

The existence of the text messages, which The Post first reported Thursday, contradicts the city’s previous claims in federal court that there is no evidence that any NOPD policymaker had notice of any inappropriate behavior by Officer Rodney Vicknair, according to the victim’s motion.

Now the jury trial, which was set to begin Monday, will be rescheduled while the two sides debate the relevance of the text messages — and what they mean for the city’s liability in the case.

New Orleans Office of the Independent Police Monitor/Obtained by The Washington Post

The victim, whom The Post is identifying by her middle name, Nicole, said she feels she is being betrayed by the police department for a second time.

“They knew about what was happening to me and decided not to do anything,” Nicole, now 18, said Thursday. “They thought that they could get away with it.”

In 2022, Vicknair pleaded guilty to violating the girl’s civil rights, admitting that he locked her in his truck and touched her under her clothing.

The city has declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation. In court filings Thursday, attorneys for New Orleans described the text message in September 2020 from then-independent police monitor Susan Hutson to then-superintendent Shaun Ferguson as “irrelevant” and denied improperly withholding materials or making any misrepresentations to the court.

The Post obtained the text messages in June in response to a public records request made to the New Orleans Office of the Independent Police Monitor, a civilian oversight agency that handles complaints of police misconduct. The texts were part of a trove of information — hundreds of law enforcement records, video footage, court transcripts and other documents — that reporters gathered from multiple agencies, including the city of New Orleans.

Vicknair was hired by NOPD in 2007 despite having previously been arrested multiple times and convicted of simple battery on a juvenile. In May 2020, Vicknair was dispatched to the house of Nicole, then 14, when she needed to be transported to the hospital for a rape kit. Prosecutors later alleged that Vicknair began grooming her that day. Over the next four months, Vicknair repeatedly called, texted and visited Nicole.

After Nicole’s mother reported concerns about Vicknair to the girl’s therapist, the therapist’s supervisor contacted Hutson on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.

Records show the police monitor learned the officer’s first name, approximate age and the date he met Nicole. Hutson told The Post she quickly reached out to the New Orleans Police Department to alert officials to the potential crime.

She first called and texted Arlinda Westbrook, who was then the leader of the department’s internal affairs unit.

“Hey Arlinda. This is an urgent call. Please call me,” Hutson wrote, according to images of the texts obtained by The Post.

When she failed to reach Westbrook, she texted Ferguson, the superintendent, about 20 minutes later.

“Hey Shaun, I need to reach Arlinda urgently, if she’s near you can your all her to call me?” she texted. “It’s about potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer.”

Records show a criminal investigator with NOPD’s internal affairs unit did not begin his investigation into Vicknair until three days later, on Monday, Sept. 21. Vicknair remained on active duty until Friday, Sept. 25. According to prosecutors, Nicole was assaulted by Vicknair on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Ferguson and Westbrook did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday. Last month, Ferguson declined to comment on the case.

Vicknair was charged with sexual battery, indecent behavior with a juvenile and malfeasance in office. The Justice Department, which took over his prosecution from Orleans Parish, charged him with deprivation of rights under the color of law, and he agreed to plead guilty in November 2022. A judge sentenced him to 14 years in prison in 2023. Vicknair died in January after serving less than six months in prison.

Nicole and her mother filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and Ferguson in 2021. The city’s attorneys, in court filings, have repeatedly denied that the police department is responsible for Nicole’s abuse. They claim that Vicknair was not on duty at the time of the sexual assault he pleaded guilty to and was not acting on behalf of NOPD “while performing any of the inappropriate actions alleged against him.”

But Judge Carl J. Barbier disagreed, ruling in February that the city was, in fact, liable for Vicknair’s actions. At the time, however, the judge dismissed a number of Nicole’s claims against the city, including that the department failed to properly supervise Vicknair after they were alerted to potential misconduct.

According to the motions filed Thursday, the victim’s attorneys may ask Barbier to revisit the question of supervision following The Post’s reporting on the text messages to police officials. A new date for the jury trial has not yet been set.

Indiana University, BA in journalism 

Jessica Contrera is an enterprise reporter who writes about lives being shaped by major events and issues in the news.

Jessica Contrera

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service finalist, 2015

Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting finalist, 2015 

Knight Award for Public Service finalist, 2015

Scripps Howard Awards Investigative Reporting finalist, 2016

Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics finalist, 2017

Dart Award finalist, 2017

Investigative Reporters & Editors finalist, 2018

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service finalist, 2020

Gerald Loeb Award, 2021

Pulitzer Prize for Audio Journalism finalist, 2022

"I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope"

Cornell University, BS Communications

Jenn Abelson is a reporter for The Washington Post's investigative team and co-host of Broken Doors.

Jenn Abelson

washpost

Trial for teen sexually abused by New Orleans police officer delayed after Post investigation

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Abused by the Badge

Staff Photojournalist

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