New Orleans D.A.: Priest, 2 dominatrices face vandalism charges after having sex on altar

A former priest and two women are facing charges for having sex on the altar of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River, La.

The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate reports a passerby spotted lights on inside the church. Looking into the church’s windows and glass doors, the passerby saw Travis John Clark, 37, the pastor there, engaging in sexual activities with two “corset-clad women.”

The incident happened between Sept. 29-30. On Thursday, the St. Tammany District Attorney’s Office charged Mindy Lynn Dixon, 41, of Kent, Wash., and Melissa Kamon Cheng, 28, of Alpharetta, Ga., and Clark with institutional vandalism for “knowingly vandalizing, defacing, or otherwise damaging property and causing damage valued at over $500 and under $50,000.”

More serious obscenity charges were dropped after attorney Bradley Phillips, who represents the women — called “professional dominatrices” by the Times-Picayune — argued the act was private and legal as it did not occur in public.

“Once again, (the state has) overstepped their bounds as this nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to regulate the morality of private individuals,” Phillips said in a statement. “Just because you don’t like something, doesn’t make it criminal. My clients look forward to their day in court as we continue to fight this baseless allegation.”

Clark was not able to be reached for comment.

The paper reported court documents say the women — in corsets and high heels — “performed sex acts on a half-naked Clark as they recorded it with a phone and tripod-mounted camera.”

Police seized plastic sex toys, stage lights and a pair of recording devices inside the church, records show.

On Friday, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond acknowledged the charges in a statement, saying, “We have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement. We are proceeding to the Vatican to petition for their laicization presenting information from both the criminal and canonical investigations.”

The paper reports Clark was removed from his post the day after his arrest.

Aymond, the paper reports, ordered that the altar on which the sex acts took place be burned. During a ceremony to consecrate a new one in October, Aymond said the former priest’s “behavior was obscene. The desecration of this church and the altar is demonic — demonic. … He was using that which was holy to do demonic things.”

The three accused are scheduled to arraigned Monday in Covington, La. If they are convicted, they could get up to two years in prison and a fine.