Latest court filings paint new, more disturbing allegations against Perkins couple

LIVINGSTON – Fifty-two pages of court documents paint disturbing new details about the illegal fantasies prosecutors allege Dennis and Cynthia Perkins were living out while working as a sheriff’s deputy and parish school teacher in Livingston for the last six years.

The court filing obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit spells out more about what the couple is accused of doing to children, at least two adults and an animal in a 150-count indictment of sexual offenses.

Watch WBRZ News 2 for special reports from Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto Monday.

The synopsis of the new case files may be too disturbing for some readers. Complaints date back decades to at least one allegation when Perkins was 18-years-old.

The court filings obtained Monday (April 20) elaborate on the case against the couple after their arrest in the fall of 2019. It explains a tip was made by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding child sexual abuse in September and agents traced computer and internet connectivity to the Perkins’ address where they found an extensive database of child pornography and other files, prosecutors wrote in the filing.

Victims range from young – under 13 – to adult and also an animal.

Prosecutors said among the files found were ones showing Dennis Perkins “ejaculating on pastries,” a file that is now the center of a lawsuit following revelations the pastries appear to have been served to children in Cynthia Perkins’ class at Westside Junior High in Livingston Parish.

WBRZ reported on the lawsuit in a November 2019 story where parents said they were notified about the investigation centered on their kids’ class.

According to the new court filing, the files insinuating the children were served the food with bodily fluids that occurred between May 2018 and February 2019. Prosecutors spelled out more about the mingling of harmful substances charge tied to the files in its court filing Monday.

Prosecutors said the bodily fluids were in pastries and energy drinks.

Later in the filing, prosecutors outline – shockingly – even more allegations, accusing the Perkins of living a fantasy of “punishing” children through sexual acts.

Prosecutors said they found a note that suggested they looked for a young victim, writing “we found her for this reason,” to sexually abuse because other family members were too young to be used.

“[The juvenile victim] will receive the punishments that” the underage, female family member “deserves,” the note read.

Prosecutors said agents found internet search history showing research about child sexual abuse and pornography and edited images of children in “sexually suggestive positions with Dennis Perkins.”

Investigators believe Dennis Perkins hid a small camera in a bathroom to record juvenile girls. Agents said they interviewed a woman who dated Perkins; The woman said she found out and destroyed the camera during their relationship.

A video of an unclothed juvenile girl was found on the hard drive of a computer in Dennis Perkins’ office at the Livingston Parish sheriff’s department.

Both Dennis and Cynthia Perkins engaged in public sex while on an airplane in December 2018, prosecutors said, as “unsuspecting passengers [were] seen in the background” of a video investigators obtained.

In another incident highlighted by prosecutors, Dennis Perkins is accused of video voyeurism during an August 2012 traffic stop where he used a pin camera to record the woman to "view her breasts down the front of the adult female's shirt" and later "angled up her jean shorts to reveal her genitals."

In a statement provided to WBRZ, the sheriff's office said the camera was not sheriff's office property.

Prosecutors also alleged in the court documents, Perkins previously confessed to having sexual contact in public and having sex with an underage girl when he applied to be on the Baton Rouge Police force in 1998.

Dennis Perkins defense lawyer told WBRZ today the evidence that was presented is not what it seems.

"My client had a terrible and strange and deviant sense of humor," Dennis Perkins' lawyer Jarrett Ambeau said. "I've said it before publicly and I'll say it again. Some of these jokes they were making with each other are incomprehensibly crazy. Just nuts. Nuts. Crazy jokes you'd never do this, but they aren't criminal acts."

Cynthia Perkins defense lawyer Woody Scott issued the following statement.

"The 404(b) evidence submitted proves what we already knew was true, that Denny Perkins has been victimizing people for years," Scott said. "The small amount of evidence involving Cynthia are taken out of context."

WBRZ previously reported other law enforcement agencies considered Perkins a high-risk hire and did not accept him on the force.

Prosecutors also said the Perkins had date-rape drugs in their home that they used to knock out victims during sexual encounters.

Attorney General Jeff Landry's office, which is leading the investigation, released a statement Tuesday after the documents were released.

"While we will never waver from our commitment to not say anything that would jeopardize successful prosecutions of the crimes or negatively impact victim privacy rights, this matter is at a point where further comment may be appropriate," The statement read in part.

"We would not be in this position without the assistance of the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Jason Ard and his team have fully cooperated and helped throughout this very serious and sensitive investigation. I can only imagine how difficult it has been to refrain from responding publicly to the rumors, innuendos, and slander that have been thrown their way," Landry's statement continued. "To date, and after nearly six months on the case, our forensic examiners have not found any evidence of knowledge or participation in the alleged criminal conduct by either the Sheriff or others at his Office. Dennis Perkins, Cynthia Perkins, and Melanie Curtin are the defendants, and our office will do all that we legally can to bring them to justice."

Both Dennis and Cynthia Perkins were arrested in October 2019. Dennis Perkins was arrested at a Toledo Bend camp where he was with a retired law enforcement officer. A cell phone used by Perkins to orchestrate his surrender belonged to a fishing buddy. A records search by WBRZ showed the number belonged to the retired lawman.