ULL student accused of raping teens

LAFAYETTE — University police arrested a 20-year-old University of Louisiana at Lafayette student Tuesday in the rape of two underage girls at his campus apartment.

University police arrested Pierre A. Sherrard, a sophomore in engineering, on two counts of aggravated rape stemming from a Sunday night incident at Legacy Park Apartments on Girard Park Circle, said Sgt. Billy Abrams, a university police spokesman, in a news release.

The rapes involved a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl, Abrams wrote in an email Wednesday.

Police began investigating the incident Monday after responding to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in reference to a sexual assault, Abrams said.

Officers arrested Sherrard outside the apartment complex while executing a search warrant inside his apartment, Abrams said.

Sherrard was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on two counts of aggravated rape and one count each of possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a school zone and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police found about $40 worth of high-grade marijuana inside an iPhone box inside the apartment, according to a warrant for Sherrard’s arrest.

Sherrard’s status with the university will be determined by a pending investigation by the university’s Office of Student Life and Conduct, said Christine Payton, a university spokeswoman.