Man lured girls to son's fake birthday party, gave them drugs, engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior

COVINGTON, La. (WGNO) -- District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that a St. Tammany Parish Jury convicted Lenard “Andy” Turpin, 52, of Slidell, of Attempted Indecent Behavior with a Juvenile under 13, Possession of a Schedule II Controlled Dangerous Substance, and two counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine to Persons Under the Age of 18.

Turpin faces up to 12.5 years for Indecent Behavior, up to two years for the Possession charge, and 10 to 30 years for Distribution when he is sentenced Sept. 9 by District Judge Scott Gardner.

According to the D.A., on June 1, 2017, Turpin picked up multiple juveniles, almost all under the age of 13, under the pretense that they would be attending his son's birthday party at his home.

When the teens arrived at Turpin's home in Slidell, they found that no birthday party was underway, and Turpin's son was not even home.

Turpin began indulging and providing alcohol and marijuana to the underage children while making lewd and inappropriate comments to the girls.

Turpin then brought two of the juveniles upstairs, where he coerced them to smoke methamphetamine and attempted to get them to perform sexual acts on each other.

Later, Turpin also groped and touched one of the girls while making sexual comments about her body.

Turpin then brought the same victim upstairs and had her smoke meth with him.

One of the juveniles was taken to the hospital, where she tested positive for meth.

On June 2, 2017, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies conducted a search at Turpin's residence, and found meth in his nightstand.