SLIDELL, La. — John Raymond, the Slidell pastor and former “Survivor” contestant convicted of child cruelty for taping students’ mouths shut, will now be sentenced in December. The hearing was previously scheduled for Wednesday then pushed back amid a series of motions filed by Raymond’s attorney.
“We want to delve deeper into showing that there was no activity that should have been a cause of an arrest, much less a charge, much less a trial,” Raymond said in an interview with WWL Louisiana outside the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center Wednesday.
Raymond was arrested in 2022 while serving as Headmaster of Lakeside Christian Academy, a school he founded. He was charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after witnesses reported he taped students’ mouths shut as a form of discipline. At the time, he did not deny it, though he and witnesses differed on the amount of tape involved and how long it was on the students’ mouths.
When WWL Louisiana asked him whether he still stood by his earlier admission, he hesitated and then said, “I've always handled children in a fair manner. Being a disciplinarian and a headmaster, school has its challenges. You ask any teacher out there in a public school or the private school, you want to be fair and you want to be just, and you want to be right and you want to be effective.”
Raymond was later arrested again, after being accused of holding a four-year-old boy upside-down and holding his hand over the boy’s mouth until he went limp. In September of 2024, a jury found him guilty of all four charges.
His sentencing was set for October 23. Court documents show three motions filed on Raymond’s behalf two days before that– one for a re-trial, one to recuse District Attorney Collin Sims, and one to acquit Raymond.
“We just pray that these charges can be resolved in a judicial fashion that shows my innocence, and we will allow our parents, teachers and students to move on,” Raymond said. He declined to say whether he was still involved with Lakeside Christian Academy.
The judge approved a motion to suspend the sentencing hearing. It is now set for December 2 at 1 p.m. Raymond could face as many as 70 years in prison or as few as zero.
In the meantime, an attorney representing the families of the children involved in the case said he is prepared to move forward with a civil trial if Raymond is not sentenced in criminal court. “I learned a long time ago, you never predict the outcome of a case,” said John B. Wells.
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