Former foster parent found guilty of molesting juveniles in his care

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - On April 9, the jury reached a guilty verdict on all charges against Michael Lane Hadden. He is now convicted of molesting three foster children who were in his care. He will spend at least 25 years in prison.

RELATED: Verdict reached in Hadden trial; man accused of molesting foster children

The investigation into Hadden began in 2021, after someone walked in on Hadden in the room with a young boy, both were naked at the time. The victim who was in the bed testified that both he and Hadden were unclothed. During the trial, the jury heard from detectives, caseworkers, medical experts, the three victims, and Hadden himself.

Hadden’s testimony was referenced multiple times in closing arguments by both the prosecution and defense. Sonya Cardia-Porter, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, mentioned how Hadden claimed the victim’s testimony was untrue and the Department of Children and Family Services “put those kids up to this,” as Cardia-Porter said. She also referenced another piece of Hadden’s testimony.

“And then he (Hadden) says it repulses him, and he says it was male-on-male conduct, and that’s ‘against my religious beliefs’, he doesn’t say the sexual conduct upon a kid repulses him."

Hadden’s defense attorney, Drew Louviere, started closing by saying there wasn’t any proof, and since the victims didn’t remember exact dates, the jury could not be certain he was guilty. Louviere argued that due to Hadden being 400-500 pounds during the abuse, he would not physically be able to commit the crimes.

Both Cardia-Porter and Louviere declined an interview after the verdict was reached.

The jury took only a few hours to deliberate and reached a unanimous guilty verdict. WAFB spoke to a few supporters of the victims, including Agnes Smith, who told us justice was served today.

“You know he’s just a dirty old man,” Agnes Smith said. “He knew all the things he was doing, the things he was trying to do and he did it.”

Smith said the state failed to protect those children. Records show DCFS removed one of the victims from the foster home after accusations were first made, but later returned them to Hadden’s home.

“They did us wrong. Maybe from now on, this won’t go this far, it’ll just get nipped in the bud, we hope,” Smith said. “Ruining their lives is what I call it, and that’s exactly what he’s done. I hope he just goes over and beyond the 25 years they set for him, I do, I hope he just rots in prison, that’s where he needs to be, where he can’t get other children.”

East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore sent a statement:

We are pleased with the effort by the jury’s attention to the evidence in this case and the time they took in their deliberations. This case was complicated in many ways. Our courageous victims were some of the most vulnerable in society and we are pleased with the verdict, which was the just verdict not only for our survivors of these heinous acts but also for our community.

The allegations of sexual abuse involved delayed disclosure, which were able to be collected and documented through the investigative tools available to law enforcement and DCFS. It is the efforts of the individuals that worked on those cases that permitted us to present this evidence to the jury. We appreciate the outstanding efforts of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office in their investigation in this case.

We are so proud of each of these vulnerable survivors for having to have the courage to share their abuse and work with us to present their accounts to the jury.

We also want to commend the prosecution team and all of those that provided support to these individuals throughout the process. Their support assisted in these survivors being able to have their day in court.

Hillar Moore

Haddens official sentencing date is April 28, at 9 in the morning.

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