One Sentenced in Case of Inhumane Treatment of Family Member

Jody Lambert (24) was sentenced yesterday (June 13, 2019) in the Eastern District of Louisiana to

120 months imprisonment for conspiring with members of his family in Amite, Louisiana to prevent a woman with cognitive disabilities from exercising her right to rent and occupy a dwelling without injury, intimidation, and interference because of her cognitive disabilities.

Lambert had plead guilty on October 18, 2018. At the plea hearing, Lambert admitted that, prior to June 30, 2016, he and other members of his family forced the disabled woman to live in a locked cage in their backyard, locked her in the cage at night with a metal chain and padlock, and that he and other family members had placed branches and a tarp over the cage to hide it from view. Lambert further admitted that while locked inside the cage, the woman was required to use a five-gallon bucket as a toilet. Lambert also admitted that he and other family members subjected the woman to routine physical violence and threats of physical violence. 

Click here to read the full press release.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Field Office in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Tangipahoa District Attorney’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Risa Berkower and Nicholas Reddick of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Assistant United States Attorney Julia Evans, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and by the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney’s Office.