UPDATE: A former Kaplan Police officer who was booked with rape and fired this summer has now been formally charged.
Terry Wayne Leopold Kraut Jr., 35, was booked this summer with third-degree rape after a Vermilion Parish Sheriff's investigation. Shortly after that, Chief Joshua Hardy told us he was no longer employed with Kaplan Police.
Records at the Vermilion Parish jail show Kraut was booked earlier today with second-degree rape and two counts malfeasance in office, then bonded out after posting $50,000 bond. A spokesman said the booking followed a grand jury indictment.
In July, Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillion told us that Kraut was booked with third-degree rape in connection with an incident that started at a Kaplan bar.
Kraut was at a bar in the city early on a Saturday, and a woman there was about to leave. Kraut allegedly asked if he could take her home, but she said no. He allegedly persisted, saying he could get her home safely, and since she knew he was a police officer she said OK, the sheriff said at the time.
But instead of taking her home, Kraut is accused of taking her to a country road outside the city limits, where he allegedly "committed a non-consensual sexual act on her," the sheriff said.
The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division responded to the complaint and subsequently called out the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division (CID).
The Criminal Investigation Division obtained probable cause through the investigation, and an arrest warrant was secured for Third Degree Rape.
