John Barnes of Louisiana is denying allegations from the mother of his child, who says their daughter was conceived in rape. The pair have been locked in a custody battle for more than a decade.
Chrysta Abelseth, 32, recently went public with claims that Barnes, 46, raped her in 2005 when she was 16 and he was 30, after offering her a ride home after they met during a night out, as Breitbart previously noted. Barnes has told Fox News that the allegation is a fabrication.
“It’s a lie. She was in a bar with a fake ID, telling everyone she was a college student,” he told Fox News. “I had no idea she was 16, and I didn’t rape her. That is absolutely, unequivocally false.”
The pair have had a years-long custody battle over their daughter. Abelseth asserted to WBRZ that Barnes was unaware of the child for the first few years of her life and that “he pursued custody” after learning of her. Fox News reported that filings show Abelseth prompted paternity tests in 2011 for both Barnes and James Threeton, who was listed as the girl’s father on her birth certificate. Following the DNA tests, it was confirmed that Barnes was the father, and they entered into a joint custody agreement that year.
Abelseth allegedly continued to give Threeton access to their daughter by bringing her along to prison visits, upsetting Barnes. It was later ordered that Threeton could have no contact with the child.
He further asserted to Fox News that she often had a number of different men sleeping at her home, marrying three different times over six years.
In 2015, Abelseth filed a report with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office accusing Barnes of rape in 2005 and told WBRZ that she was unaware of the statute of limitations. She asserted the agency did not investigate her allegations. The office released a statement that noted the “report never made it through the proper channels within the department to be assigned for investigation” and added, “our department dropped the ball,” NewsNation reported.
“Them admitting it is a big step forward at least, so we have that going for us,” Abelseth told the outlet.
District Attorney Scott Perrilloux’s office is now reviewing the case.
At different points in the custody battle, both Barnes and Abelseth were ordered to pay one another child support, Fox News noted. The pair’s courtroom conflict continued in 2020 when Barnes attempted to gain full custody of the child. He claimed that Abelseth allowed the girl, then 14, to kiss her boyfriends three years her senior and that — though the daughter had a phone with parental controls — Abelseth provided her with one without such restrictions.
In May 2021, the cellphone was central to the custody war, as court papers said the child allegedly used the device to send unseemly images and to create “various sexually explicit TikTok posts,” according to Fox News. After five months, Abelseth had not turned the cellphone in, claiming someone had swiped it, Judge Jeffrey Cache (pictured) noted. After she allegedly allowed the child to have another cell phone, the judge placed her in contempt of court, according to Fox News. In addition, Cashe prohibited the child from having another cell phone.
In February of this year, “Abelseth filed for an emergency restraining order against Barnes in favor of herself and her daughter, which was automatically granted, alleging that he had ‘drugged and sexually assaulted [their child] two nights in a row’ while in his home,” Fox News reported.
Abelseth noted in the filing that the child was checked out at the hospital, and there were signs consistent with sexual assault. She referenced her own claim that Barnes raped her in 2005, and Cashe noted that she had not previously brought forth the allegations to the court in the decade-long custody case.
Barnes lost custody of his child for a month before a hearing officer determined that medical evidence failed to corroborate the allegations, and soon after, Cashe granted full temporary custody to Barnes the day he requested it, according to Fox News.
Now, a parental rights hearing is set for next month after Abelseth filed a motion stating the child is the product of a felony rape.
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