Metairie man to serve 30 years for 2019, 2021 sex abuse crimes

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) — The Metairie man found guilty in May of drugging and sexually abusing teenagers, has been sentenced.

On Thursday, June 12, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office announced 46-year-old Thomas Welty will serve 30 years in prison convicted of:

• Second-degree rape and trafficking children for sexual purposes involving one victim
• Indecent behavior with a juvenile
• Contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile
• Sexual battery of the other victim

On May 20, Welty was found guilty of the crimes that happened between 2019 and 2021 with 15-year-old victims.

Court documents noted the abuse began during the 2019 Carnival season when Welty provided one victim with alcohol until she ultimately passed out. That’s when he took her to his home and injected her with a “highly addictive methamphetamine.”

The encounter caused the victim to develop an addiction to the drug, documents noted.

After raping her, Welty allowed two drug-dealing associates to do the same in exchange for narcotics (they have never been identified).

During that same month, Welty had given a “date rape” drug, GHB, to a second victim. She also passed out but woke up in the shower with Welty, according to court documents.

It was also noted that the second victim rejected his sexual advances and left his house.

During the trial, one victim’s impact statement read:

“I choose to forgive what you’ve done, but not for you,” the victim wrote. “I’m forgiving you for myself, because at the end of the day I need to heal – not you.

“I was so grateful to learn that every seven years, every cell in your entire body is being replaced. And with that being said, how great is it to know that I will finally have a body you will have never touched.”

In addition to the sentence, the judge ordered a stay-away order prohibiting any contact with the victims for the next 100 hundred years and for Welty to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life.

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