Warning: This report contains graphic details
State authorities have arrested a third person in connection with the investigation into former Livingston Parish Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Perkins.
Attorney General Jeff Landry's office, the lead investigating agency in the case, said that 41-year-old Melanie Barnett Curtin of Denham Springs was arrested on Saturday, February 1, on charges of video voyeurism and first-degree rape.
According to WAFB, Curtin was arrested by agents with the AG Office's Louisiana Bureau of Investigation in New Orleans as she returned to the states from a cruise.
Curtin worked for LPSO for a brief stint, starting in 2011. Her husband is a former LPSO Deputy.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said Curtin has not worked with the sheriff's office since August 2012 and was not employed with them at the time of her alleged crimes.
A grand jury returned 150 counts against Dennis Perkins and his wife Cynthia in December, including producing child porn, rape, and sexually abusing an animal.
It was also reported in November that the couple was accused of feeding more than 50 children small cakes that possibly contained semen.
WAFB reports that the indictment returned against the couple last year mentioned that Dennis Perkins had sex with an adult victim, and continued to say that the sex was "...with the assistance of a yet unidentified adult female perpetrator." WAFB's sources confirmed that the unidentified female was Curtin.
Dennis Perkins is a former high-ranking LPSO Deputy who had worked for the office since 2002. His wife, Cynthia, is a former Livingston Parish school teacher.
Melanie Barnett Curtin is being held without bond in the Livingston Parish Detention Center.
