A Melville woman has been booked with aggravated assault, accused of beating an unhoused man with a baseball bat.
Records show that Sonya Vallere, 47, was booked Thursday with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Records show a warrant was issued for her arrest after Melville Police performed a welfare check at a location, identified as her property, on Peyton Street.
When officers arrived at the location Thursday morning to investigate allegations of neglect and abuse, they found a man who had big whelps on his legs and wrists, an affidavit from investigators indicates.
At first the man did not want to say what happened to him, but they asked him again and he said that Vallere had "beat me with a steel aluminum bat that she keeps" on the property, the record shows. The man told police Vallere keeps "multiple bats" on her property. Police got a search warrant and found a black steel bat, which was collected as evidence.
While the man was receiving medical treatment at a hospital, he told officers that he had forgotten to wash a pot and Vallere got mad and told him to wash it. He said no, and then, he told officers, she got the bat and started beating him. He got the injuries on his wrists when he raised his arms to protect his face from the bat, he told police.
A physician at the emergency room confirmed for police that the man "did suffer a few dislocated bones in his wrist and knees," and the man was transported to another hospital for surgery.
Records show that Vallere was booked into the St. Landry Parish jail, and appeared in court Friday morning for a magistrate's hearing. Her attorney is listed as Deuce Domengeaux, but when we called him he said he doesn't have the file yet and can't comment on the case.
A Melville man whose mother died while living at Vallere's house has questions about what happened, but when we reached out to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office they told us they investigated and there was no evidence of any wrong-doing.
Records show that Vallere was booked with principal to attempted second-degree murder in Avoyelles Parish back in 2023, but that charge was dismissed. Her son, Trevon Allen, was booked a few weeks later with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault, but those charges also were dismissed. Last fall, in November, she was indicted on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm and he was indicted on a charge of illegal use of weapons, Avoyelles records show.
St. Landry Parish records show that Allen had similar charges dismissed there; in March 2020 he was booked by Melville Police with three counts aggravated assault with a firearm, charges that were dismissed six weeks later.
