A former h ICE detention center guard who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a female detainee deported to Nicaragua wants permission to contact her by phone.
David Courvelle, 56, pleaded guilty in December in federal court to one count of sexual abuse of a ward or individual in federal custody.
Courvelle was a contract employee at the South h ICE Processing Center in Basile managed by the GEO Group between Jan. 1 and July 30.
Between May and July 30 Courvelle allegedly had sexual contact multiple times with the detainee, providing her with gifts, food and photographs of her daughter.
As part of his plea agreement Courvelle cannot have contact with the woman who has been deported to Nicaragua.
On Feb. 3, his attorney, Elbert Lee Guillory of Opelousas, filed a motion “in the interest of justice and in the interest of love,” asking a judge to allow him to contact the woman by telephone, saying they are “in a romantic relationship” and in love.
“These lovers are separated and their only means of communication is by telephone,” Guillory wrote
Attached to Guillory’s motion is an email allegedly from the woman saying that during her time in the detention center she began to fall in love with Courvelle, “because he is a special human being and I could take away all of his problems.”
She added that Courvelle is not guilty and his only mistake was falling in love with a detainee.
The woman named in the email has different initials than those used by federal prosecutors to identify the detainee in question.
Federal prosecutors are asking the judge to deny Courvelle’s request because the woman, when first interviewed during an August rape investigation, said the sexual contact was forced and painful.
Telephone contact also could allow Courvelle to influence her victim impact statement during sentencing April 10, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Johnson wrote.
It is common, he wrote, for victims of sexual assault to struggle with their feelings about the abuser and may even blame themselves or protect the abuser.
“She deserves an opportunity to process what happened in a safe space free from the defendant’s interference,” Johnston wrote.”