LAFAYETTE – A woman is seeking more than $50,000 in damages over the alleged conduct of a Villa Platte city marshall deputy.
Maria Joseph filed a complaint on June 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette-Opelousas Division against the city of Ville Platte alleging that the political body violated the Fourth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on May 5, she was approached by a city marshall deputy, gave him her number and took a ride with him on the assumption that it was a date. She alleges that she was taken to another location and later assaulted by another party. The suit states that she was later arrested and booked into the Jefferson Davis Parish jail. She alleges that she went to the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office and the Ville Platte Police Department to report the deputy's conduct on May 8.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks damages of more than $50,000 and any equitable relief to which she may be entitled. She is represented by Anthony C. Dupree of Dupre-Meyers LLC in Ville Platte.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette-Opelousas Division Case number 6:17-cv-00841