20-year-old N.O. man booked with aggravated rape of a pre-teenage Chalmette girl he knew

A 20-year-old New Orleans man has been booked with the aggravated rape of a pre-teenage Chalmette girl he knew, which happened at the apartment of the girl’s mother who wasn’t home, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Andrew Smith, 20, was arrested Friday night, July 20, after he left the apartment complex in Chalmette when the girl came out of her bedroom and phoned her mother and also told Smith’s older brother what happened, Pohlmann said.

The older brother and Smith were spending the week-end at the apartment of the girl’s mother, who had left them with the girl, Pohlmann said.

When Smith was found outside the apartment complex by Sheriff’s Dep. Cpl. Shane Lulei, Smith told him, “I know why you’re here, because I had sex with a younger female,’’ a sheriff’s report of the incident said.

Smith is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of bond set at $500,000.

Aggravated rape of a juvenile is punishable by a sentence of up to life in prison.

The girl, who was examined at a hospital after the incident, said she was sleeping in her room about 5 p.m. when she was awakened by Smith coming in and locking the door. When she asked why he did that, she said, Smith told her not to worry about it and walked to her bed, placed one hand over her mouth and forced her to have sex.

She said when it was over Smith left, she got dressed, then ran out to get her phone and call her mother, Pohlmann said.