Local pastor indicted by grand jury

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, August 21, 2018

A Methodist minister has been indicted on three counts of statutory rape by the Warren County grand jury.

The indictments accuse Troy Anthony Piccaluga, 48, 65 Jeffers Hollow, Redwood, the former pastor of the Eagle Lake and Redwood United Methodist churches, of having sex with two 14-year-old girls.

Piccaluga was arrested in March on the charges by Warren County sheriff’s deputies after an investigation into a complaint about a girl between the age of 14 and 16 having a sexual relationship with an older man. The second victim was discovered during the investigation.

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According to sheriff’s office reports, the incidents occurred between January and March.

Piccaluga has been held in the county jail without bond since his arrest.

In other indictments:

• Denzell Lee Watts, 22, 1496 Lee S. Davis Circle, Utica, was indicted on a charge of possession of contraband within a jail or correctional facility.

Watts, who was indicted earlier on five counts of aggravated assault-extreme indifference in a Christmas Eve shooting at L.D.’s Lounge, is accused of trying to bring a cell phone into the Warren County Jail.

• Bernard Brown, 53, 2228 Grove St. Apt. B; sale of a controlled substance-cocaine.

• John Wayne Tinsley, 55, 221 Central Drive; failure to register as a sex offender.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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