A third person has been arrested as part of the investigation into former Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputy Dennis Perkins.

The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, which is the lead investigating agency of the Perkins case, said Melanie Barnett Curtin, 41, of Denham Springs, was arrested Saturday, Feb. 1 on the charges of video voyeurism and first-degree rape.

A judge has ordered Curtin to be held without bond at the Livingston Parish Detention Center.

Curtin briefly worked for the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office starting in 2011. Her ex-husband is a former Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputy.

She was arrested in New Orleans as she returned to the U.S. from a cruise.

Investigators did not give details about what Curtin is accused of.

Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard issued a statement about Curtin’s arrest saying:

“Melanie Curtin has not been employed with the Sheriff’s office since August 13, 2012. She worked for the Sheriff’s Office for roughly 18 months in the tax department. She terminated her employment with this office on August 13, 2012. At the time of the alleged crime for which she was arrested she was not an employee of this office.”

In December 2019, a Livingston Parish Grand Jury returned indictments on 78 felonies for fired deputy Dennis Perkins and 72 felonies for his school teacher wife Cynthia.

The couple is accused of child rape, producing child pornography, and participating in feeding desserts laced with semen to school children. Dennis is also accused of sexual abuse of an animal. The couple did plead not guilty to all the felonies.

In the indictment returned by the grand jury, a count for first-degree rape said that on Nov. 8, 2014, Dennis had sex with an adult victim. But it went on to say that sex was “…with the assistance of a yet unidentified adult female perpetrator.”

Sources confirm to the 9News Investigators that “unidentified adult female perpetrator” was Curtin.

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