Former Fort Polk Army Soldier sentenced to life for sexual abuse of a minor

Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook
announced that Ronald W. Allen, Jr., 41, was sentenced by United States District Judge
Jay C. Zainey to spend life in prison for sexual abuse of a minor. Allen was also ordered
to pay restitution in the amount of $72,000.
After a two-day trial in August 2019, a federal jury handed down a guilty verdict
on all counts against Ronald W. Allen, Jr., a former Fort Polk Army Soldier, for sexually
abusing a minor under the age of 12 years old.
According to evidence presented during trial, from April 2012 until June 2016 the
defendant sexually abused the minor on numerous occasions on the Fort Polk Military
Base, where the defendant lived. The abuse was exposed when the minor gave details to
an individual at a school she was attending in a community near Fort Polk. Local police
were later notified, the victim was interviewed, and a warrant was executed on the
defendant’s residence. Agents obtained DNA evidence from where abuse occurred and
matched it to the defendant’s DNA.
“This sentence sends a clear message that those who abuse children will be
brought to justice. These crimes are particularly heinous because children put their trust
in adults and especially those who serve in the United States Military. This office will
make it a priority to continue to prosecute these difficult cases to help provide safer
communities for all of our children,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Van Hook.
The FBI, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the Vernon Parish
Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Luke
Walker and Daniel J. Vermaelen prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide
initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led
by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity
Section, Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state and local resources to better
locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well
as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood,
please visit www.justice.gov/psc.