FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Covington Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Two Young Girls and Is Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison
March 21, 2024
District Attorney Collin Sims (Interim) reports that on March 20, 2024, 43-year-old Tristian Foster of Covington, pled guilty to sexual battery involving a victim under 13, aggravated crime against nature with a victim under 13 and indecent behavior with juveniles with a victim under 13. He was sentenced by District Judge Vincent Lobello to 35 years in prison without the possibility of parole. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Tiffany Dover and Amanda Gritten.
In April of 2022, a mental health professional at Pine View Middle School called the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services, after a student disclosed an incident of sexual abuse. The then-11-year-old student, reported to a teacher that she had been sexually assaulted by the father of a friend during a sleep over. DCFS in turn notified the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office which then dispatched Detective Katie Robbins to the school.
After gathering additional information, Det. Robbins scheduled a forensic interview of the child at the Children’s Advocacy Center Hope House. During the resulting interview the victim disclosed she had been inappropriately touched under the shirt by the defendant while at a sleepover. She said that he had unclasped her bra and told her to remove her clothes stating, “you better be naked when I return.” She also said the defendant tickled her and touched her inappropriately. She said she confided in a friend who revealed to her that she too had been sexually abused by the defendant.
The second victim was then interviewed at the Hope House and medically evaluated at the Audrey Hepburn Care Center affiliated with Children’s Hospital. She disclosed that the defendant had sex with her approximately a year prior, when she was eight, she said that it hurt, she could barely breathe and “he wouldn’t accept no as an answer.”
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives interviewed the defendant. During questioning, he didn’t outright dispute the allegations made against him. He claimed he often consumed alcohol to excess and he didn’t “recall” or “remember” sexually abusing either girl.