LSUE Professor on Leave after Allegations of Rape & Cyberstalking

The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office arrest report information for Thursday, October 19, shows that 50-year-old Judson Eldrege of Eunice was arrested on charges of second-degree rape, cyberstalking, and filing or maintaining false public records.

The Eunice Police Department told KATC that Eldredge was accused of filing a false public record against the person who police say is accusing the LSU-E professor of rape. Eunice officials say the report was falsely claiming that the victim was using a Cash App to steal money from him.

Eunice police department officials say they later learned Eldrege voluntarily sent money to the victim. The incident was further investigated. Detectives say before the whole situation with the money transfer the two decided to meet at a restaurant and then go to his apartment.

The woman alleges she started to feel strange after having drinks with the man at his apartment. She actually fell asleep only to woke up to the man raping her. She was able to get out of the apartment.

The woman says following this Eldrege continued to try to contact her using the app.

Eldrege is an employee of LSU-Eunice, and according to their administration, he has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

LSU Chancellor Dr. Nancee Sorenson sent a letter out to faculty, staff, students, and to KATC. It's as follows:

LSU Eunice Community,

I wanted to notify you that late Wednesday afternoon, a professor at LSU Eunice was arrested by the Eunice Police Department. Upon receiving news of this arrest, we placed the professor in question on administrative leave. While the judicial process must be allowed to play out, we want to make very clear that the alleged behavior will not be tolerated by anyone associated with our campus. The safety and security of our LSUE students, staff, faculty, and the community we serve is of the utmost importance to me, and to all of us at LSUE.

It should be noted that to our knowledge, the victim in this incident is not an LSU Eunice student, staff, or faculty member. The Eunice Police Department is handling the investigation, and we will cooperate in any way necessary.

In light of this event, we want to make our LSU Eunice community aware of resources available to victims of sexual violence. The LSUE Office of the Title IX Coordinator exists to enforce the university’s sex-based discrimination policies, educate the community about our policies and practices, connect people to resources that can support them if they experience discrimination or retaliation, and listen to the concerns of the campus community.

There are also designated, trained confidential advisors at LSU Eunice who provide emergency and ongoing support to survivors of sexual violence. Our confidential advisors at LSU Eunice are Dr. Doug Narby and Kathleen Warner.

You can also find a full list of support services and resources available to the LSUE Community at www.lsue.edu/titleix/resources.php. Some of them include Hearts of Hope (https://theheartsofhope.org/), Faith House of Acadiana (https://faithhouseacadiana.com), and the St. Landry-Evangeline Sexual Assault Center (https://slesac.org/).