FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jury Finds New Orleans Sex Offender Guilty
of Failing to Notify Slidell Residents of His Move to Slidell
August 7, 2024
District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on August 6, 2024, a St. Tammany Parish jury deliberated for 15 minutes before returning a guilty verdict against 47-year-old Mikal Buie of New Orleans for failing to comply with Louisiana’s sex offender registration and notification requirements. Assistant District Attorneys Iain Dover and Angelina Valuri prosecuted the case. Judge Tara Zeller presided over the two-day trial. Corporal Angelina Cook headed the investigation for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Testimony during the trial established that in 2015, Buie was convicted in New Orleans on four counts of Indecent behavior with juveniles and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Following his early release from prison in 2019, Buie was required by state law to register his place of residence with the sex offender registry maintained by law enforcement. The law required him to periodically renew and update his registration.
In 2022, Buie moved from New Orleans to Slidell but failed to report that information to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registry Unit. He also failed to comply with state law requiring him to mail postcards to Slidell residents notifying them of his relocation to Slidell. Due to these violations, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was ultimately arrested in November of 2023.
During the trial, Buie took the stand and testified he was not guilty and that the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and New Orleans Police Department conspired against him.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 19, 2024. In addition to his convictions for Indecent behavior with juveniles, Buie has prior convictions for Armed robbery and Assault causing bodily injury to a family member.