A man with a prior conviction for raping a boy has been arrested on charges he raped a little girl 19 years ago. The charges were filed after she came forward and said she wanted to press charges.
Gerald Dean Barnes, 70, was arrested Thursday afternoon at a homeless shelter in Shreveport.
Bossier Parish sheriff's deputies said the victim, who was related to Barnes and is now 30 years old, filed a criminal complaint against him in July. She told investigators she had been raped three times while a child and was threatened if she told anyone.
Sheriff Larry Deen said Barnes was arrested after he admitted molesting the girl when she came to visit him when he lived in Bossier Parish. The rapes happened during the 1989 Thanksgiving holiday, when the girl stayed with Barnes for two weeks, Deen said.
Deen said Barnes was convicted of forcible rape in Arizona in 1965 and served eight years in prison. In 1978, he was convicted of raping and sodomizing a 12-year-old boy, and served 10 years in prison before being paroled.
