Louisiana teacher pleads guilty to giving her students sperm-laced cupcakes

Cynthia Perkins plead guilty to second-degree rape, producing child pornography, and conspiracy mingling of harmful substances, according to the Livingston Parish News.

The 36-year-old former Westside Junior High School teacher accepted a plea deal that would allow her to avoid a jury trial, dismissed 68 charges, and she agreed to testify against her ex-husband and disgraced sheriff’s lieutenant Dennis Perkins, who will stand trial in May.

The attorney prosecuting both cases, Barry Milligan of the Attorney General’s Office, said that justice was served following the Friday hearing.

“Today Cynthia Perkins pled guilty to three very serious felony charges,” he said, “so that will enable the family of the juvenile victim to get justice without having to go through a trial.”

Cynthia and Dennis Perkins were arrested in October of 2019 and later indicted jointly on 150 charges.

These charges included first-degree rape, producing child pornography, obscenity, video voyeurism, sexual battery of a child under 13 years old, and mingling harmful substances.

According to the Daily Mail, the duo was arrested after authorities received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and found a photo of the pair with a naked minor.

Dennis Perkins was fired from the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office following his arrest. He had worked with the sheriff’s office since 2002 and at the time of his arrest was the head of the SWAT team. Dennis was indicted on 78 felony counts.

Cynthia resigned from her English language arts position that she had been in since 2016 the day she was arrested, and received 72 felony counts in the initial indictment.

Before Westside, Cynthia taught at North Live Oak Elementary and Live Oak Middle School for four years.

Shortly after the arrest, Cynthia filed for a divorce, alleging that Dennis had manipulated her into committing the crimes.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in Cynthia accepting the plea deal, she "spared the victims from reliving her horrific crimes during this particular trial."

Her attorney, James Spokes, said the plea deal was the "best possible outcome."

"We weighed all the options and available information, and considering the circumstances… We really feel as though this was the best decision," Spokes said.

"Cynthia decided this was in her best interest. She feels a lot of remorse over what's happened. We side with her when she says this was the best decision she could make at this time," he added.

"This is not the kind of case where people are going home happy, but this was the best possible outcome," he continued.

The pair has also been hit with four lawsuits that accuse them of feeding baked goods containing Dennis' semen to Cynthia's class at Westside Junior High School on two separate occasions in 2018 and 2019.

One complaint states that the alleged father of a student that had eaten one of said cupcakes has fallen into a debilitating depression over the incident and has not been able to find gainful employment, according to the Daily Mail.

Another claims that a student and a parent have been afflicted by mental health and behavioral problems. They say they have not been able to sleep since the cupcakes incident.

In one suit filed last may, parents of a student allege that Cynthia showed the girl inappropriate images, and that she also photographed and videotaped the minor.

The lawsuits also accused the Livingston Parish School Board of negligence.