[StBernard] St. Bernard President Dave Peralta's attorney calls wife's rape claim 'premeditated scheming'

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Sun Feb 9 13:40:51 EST 2014


St. Bernard President Dave Peralta's attorney calls wife's rape claim
'premeditated scheming'
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
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on February 07, 2014 at 12:40 PM, updated February 07, 2014 at 5:09 PM

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta's attorney on Friday described his
wife's rape claims against him as "premeditated scheming."

At a divorce hearing, both Peralta and his wife Sharon Schaefer Peralta were
awarded permanent mutual restraining orders, according to a stipulation
agreed on by both spouses prior to the hearing.

They also agreed not to pursue any petition for protection from abuse "that
may relate to any and all past incidences, including but not limited to the
alleged incident of October 27, 2013."

Sharon Peralta has claimed that Dave Peralta raped her on Oct. 27, which was
her 49th birthday.

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office confirmed on Thursday that it still
is reviewing the criminal case. St. Bernard Parish District Attorney John
Rowley recused his office on Dec. 30.

Sharon Peralta had filed for a petition for protection from abuse in
Orleans, but that was thrown out this week with a judge saying that the
petition would instead need to be filed in St. Bernard.

After the Friday hearing, Dave Peralta declined to comment on the case. His
attorney, Adele Faust, said that Sharon Peralta was making up her
accusations and that "she had threatened him before the alleged incident,"
saying "that she would destroy him and threatened that she would do
everything in her power to do so.

"...She is trying to ruin him in anyway she can, trying to ruin his
reputations as St. Bernard Parish president and his personal reputation."

Faust said she has told Dave Peralta not to speak publicly on the divorce or
the alleged Oct. 27 rape because of the potential criminal charges.

"He can't speak because of her lies," Faust said.

After the hearing Friday, Faust showed a reporter a rental agreement
allegedly signed by Sharon Peralta on Sept. 23, 2013, for an apartment in
Violet. Faust said the fact that Sharon Peralta had signed that lease about
a month before the rape accusation showed her "manipulation and how Ms.
Peralta has ployed this entire situation."

The rental agreement was for a term of 6 months beginning on Oct. 1.

In an interview earlier this week with WVUE Fox 8 News, Sharon Peralta said
she was "basically a prisoner" in Dave Peralta's home and that "he
handcuffed me and he tied me from a rope that was hanging from the ceiling,
which I had never seen before."

She also presented photos of hand marks on her buttocks and copies of a
medical report from her rape kit that showed "signs of injury around the
vagina" and a vaginal tear, according to the records cited by the station.

In that Fox 8 interview, she also said that Dave Peralta had threatened her
into signing a statement saying that the rape did not occur, and that he
also had wanted her to say she was crazy and commit herself into a mental
institution, which she never did do.

On Friday, Faust raised questions about Sharon Peralta's mental health.

"Unfortunately Ms. Peralta does have some mental issues," Faust said. "...It
is really a tragedy what Sharon Peralta has done to her husband."

Other than the Fox 8 interview, Sharon Peralta has declined for the past
several months to speak publicly about the alleged rape or the divorce case.
She did not attend the hearing at the Chalmette courthouse on Friday.

Her attorney, Vernon P. Thomas, said that he has advised her not to speak
publicly. Thomas said she did not attend the hearing "because she is upset"
and coming to St. Bernard "is traumatic for her."

Faust mentioned Sharon Peralta's apparent rental agreement after Thomas
already had left the courthouse. Thomas later did not return a call for
comment on that matter.



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