Man pleads guilty to battery, carnal knowledge in attack of girl

A 24-year-old Morgan City man has pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and carnal knowledge of a 16-year-old girl stemming from an April 2014 incident in which he had also been indicted for rape and indecent behavior with a juvenile.
Atlas Joseph White, 24, of Morgan City, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the charges of aggravated battery and felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, Assistant District Attorney Erica Rose said. The rape and indecent behavior charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement, Rose said.
According to the plea agreement, White was sentenced to two years at hard labor for the aggravated battery charge and a five-year suspended sentence with three years of probation for the carnal knowledge charge. Judge Paul deMahy presided over the case.
White had been indicted in August 2014 by a grand jury on the charges of forcible rape, aggravated battery, felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile.
According to an affidavit, on April 16, 2014, Teche Regional Medical Center contacted the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office to report a victim of a battery and rape being admitted to the emergency room.
Detectives learned that a 16-year-old girl had been beaten and raped in Amelia, the affidavit said.
The victim said that while she was babysitting at a home, White, whom she knew, entered the home without knocking, the affidavit said. White then attacked the girl in the living room, throwing her down to the ground while beating her with his fist and a metal baton for several hours, the affidavit said.
The victim said she believed at some time she was knocked unconscious because when she woke up she was in the hallway bathroom, the affidavit stated. The victim had bruises, bite marks and scratches on her, the affidavit said. White put his arm around the girl’s neck and also hit her with his knee, the affidavit said.
The victim stated that White raped her multiple times. When the owner of the home returned, White took the victim’s phone and punched her in the stomach and threw her to the ground, the affidavit said. White threatened her, saying that the police would not be able to help her, the affidavit said.
The girl told a school guidance counselor the next day what had happened, and she was then brought to the hospital, the affidavit said.
White was arrested April 24 by U.S. Marshals in Iberia Parish in connection with the incident on a warrant charging him with aggravated rape and unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling.