BATON ROUGE–On September 26, 2023, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office arrested former Deputy Joseph Pizzalato for pornography involving juveniles. Pizzalato was previously arrested for indecent behavior with juveniles, on September 16.
Pizzalato allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with a juvenile via text message. Within the texts, Pizzalato allegedly called the juvenile “babe,” and sent other sexual messages, according to arresting documents. The victim voluntarily provided their cell phone with proof of the text messages.
On September 15, 2023 evening, he sent the juvenile messages such as:
“I got to remember u not 18 lol”
“You’re beautiful and curvy”
“Delete all that crap”
“Stop the dares lol all I can think is boobs hahahaha”
The messages got more explicit as the evening conversation continued. He asked the juvenile if they thought about him when they [sweat droplets emoji]. The arrest warrant indicates that the “sweat droplets emoji” is used to visualize sexual fluids.
Pizzalato went on to tell the juvenile that he wanted to touch them in a sexual manner. He described touching the juvenile over their underwear.
The detective contacted Pizzalato regarding an investigation into the complaint into his alleged inappropriate behavior. Pizzalato voluntarily provided his cell phone number to the detective. It matched the number provided by the victim.
During the investigation, EBRSO Forensic Unit reported that Pizzalato’s seized cell phone had videos involving a female who appeared to be under the age of 17. The video showed her dancing in a seductive manner, and eventually showing her breasts and face. The video appeared to be recorded from Bigo Live, a live streaming platform.
Pizzalato declined to give a statement to EBRSO.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on any new developments.
One sick puppy to be sure. If he is guilty we can only hope that he’s held to account and not just transferred to another cop shop.