Former Lafayette and Vermilion Parish Educator Convicted on Child Pornography Charge

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that a jury in Lafayette has returned a guilty verdict against Jacob Conrad De La Paz, 34, of one count of attempted receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge David C. Joseph presided over the three-day trial.  The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict as to the additional count in the indictment of attempted production of child pornography.

De La Paz was formerly a teacher and coach at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette and a math teacher at North Vermilion High School in Maurice. He left North Vermilion High School and began teaching at St. Thomas More in the fall of 2022. Testimony at trial revealed that in January 2023, De La Paz began communicating through social media with a former minor female student from North Vermilion High School who had reached out to him seeking his help as a math tutor.  On January 12, 2023, De La Paz sent a video through the Facebook social media platform to the minor female student, who was 17 years old at the time, asking her to send him a video of her pleasuring herself. He then sent a second video to the minor victim of himself masturbating to ejaculation. Further testimony in court revealed that De La Paz instructed the minor victim to delete the video and all of their conversations from Facebook.

De La Paz faces a sentence of 5 to 40 years in prison, supervised release of 5 years to life, and a fine of up to $250,000, or both. Sentencing has been set for August 22, 2024, at 2:30 p.m.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren L. Gardner and J. Luke Walker.

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