FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 8, 2017

COVINGTON—District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that Jerry Kan, 59, a former cook at a memory-care facility in Mandeville, was sentenced Wednesday (Nov. 8) to 12 years in prison for raping a woman who lived there. District Judge William Burris ordered that Kan serve the sentence for third-degree rape without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

A St. Tammany Parish jury found Kan guilty of the crime Aug. 10. The jury rejected Kan’s claim that he had consensual sex in August 2016 with the woman, who was 78 years old at the time. She had been diagnosed with dementia and placed by her family in Beau Provence Memory Care Assisted Living.

In a statement recorded by police, Kan admitted having sex with the resident after chatting with her in the dining room and escorting her to her room. Prosecutors argued that because of the woman’s condition, she was unable to give consent to sex, and the jury ultimately agreed and returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

Assistant District Attorneys William Macke and Jerry Smith prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Detective Kevin Covert of the Mandeville Police Department.