 |
|---|
| In the video, Yenni apologizes for the messages - but doesn't broach other allegations, including claims he kissed the boy and bought him underwear. Daily Mail |
|
|
Louisiana Republican, 40, Appears In An Infomercial To Admit He Sexted A 17-Year-Old Catholic High-School Boy - But Refuses To Step Down
Daily Mail
Mon Oct 10, 2016
Category: Politics
Area: New Orleans
A married Louisiana politician has released a bizarre infomercial in which he admits to sexting a 17-year-old boy - but says he won't leave office.
'Last summer I was old enough to know better, but I guess I was still young enough to do something stupid,' 40-year-old Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni says in the video posted by NOLA.com.
His remarks come just over a week after the FBI confirmed it was investigating claims he had an improper relationship with the teen, which included kissing him, buying him underwear and sending sexts of threesome fantasies.
In Thursday's one-minute infomercial, Yenni - a Republican politician who has a three-year-old daughter with wife Michelle - says his constituents 'deserve the truth from (him) directly.'
'I chose to send improper texts to a young man,' he explains. 'I won't go into details out of respect for the rights and privacy of all parties.'
But in Jefferson those details are well known: Yenni is accused of having a misguided relationship with a then-17-year-old boy in 2015.
According to WWL TV, Yenni was introduced to the youth by a 19-year-old mutual friend at a function being held at the boy's Catholic high school.
Their relationship is said to have developed through phone and text messages, with Yenni allegedly meeting the boy at his food court job to give him designer underwear.
It's also alleged that the two briefly kissed in the mall's bathroom.
The youth provided WWL with text messages sent by Yenni from a personal number. That number is not being billed to taxpayers.
In the texts, Yenni allegedly asks the boy if he's worn the underwear and says he wants to see him modeling them.
He also says he wants to perform a sex act on the boy, and that he would like a threesome with the boy and their 19-year-old mutual friend, it is claimed.
The youth said he was flattered at first by the attention, but became uncomfortable with the increasingly detailed texts.
'He asked me to go with him to his house in Oxford (Mississippi),' the youth told WWL.
'Also, the way he would describe the sexual things he wanted to do to me. And he asked me to be a secretary or assistant in his office; that way I could be with him and not be questioned.'
The age of consent in Louisiana is 17, so a sexual relationship would not have been illegal - but it has hit Yenni's career hard.
In his video, Yenni says he 'never abused or misused' his powers as a public official, but only addresses the sexting claims.
And the video hasn't stopped local officials demanding his head.
On Thursday, Jefferson Parish Councilman at-large Chris Roberts and council Chairwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng drafted a letter calling for Yenni's resignation.
They join Jefferson County"s coroner, Gerry Cvitanovich; assessor, Thomas Capella; and clerk of court Jon Gegenheimer in demanding Yenni step down.
But in his video Yenni makes it quite clear that he's going nowhere.
'I will work hard every day to prove that good people can rise from a bad decision,' he says. 'I'm certainly not afraid of the future because I'm smart enough never to repeat the past.'
Share your thoughts in the Forum
