Luling man found guilty in 2017 kidnapping of his sister

A Luling man has been found guilty of the October 2017 kidnapping of his sister by a St. Charles Parish petit jury in barely a half hour of deliberation.

Chester Barber, 62, of 609 Paul Frederick St., was found guilty of second degree kidnapping and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on Tuesday (Nov. 13).

Barber was convicted by unanimous verdict following a one-day trial, which was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Rochelle Champagne Fahrig.

Arrested on Oct. 12, 2017, Barber’s sister was found bound, gagged and locked inside of her residence with a padlock on the only functioning exterior door, according to St. Charles Parish DA’s Office.

Barber, who has a lengthy criminal history, will be sentenced by Judge M. Lauren Lemmon at 1 p.m. Feb. 25. The kidnapping conviction carries a sentence of five to 40 years of hard labor with the Louisiana Department of Corrections. The vehicle conviction carries up to two years with or without hard labor.

According to the police report, Barber stole his sister’s ex-husband’s vehicle and went to Franklin, where he crashed the vehicle and fled the scene.

DA Joel T. Chaisson II called the facts of the case “extremely disturbing.”

Barber is a registered sex offender with the Sheriff’s Office website’s sex offender registry.

“I applaud Rochelle Champagne Fahrig for her vigilance in pursuing the prosecution of this case in an effort to ensure the future safety of the victim and to remove a dangerous criminal from the streets of St. Charles Parish.”

Chaisson also thanked the deputies and detectives of the Sheriff’s Office for “their outstanding investigatory work.”

 

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