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Mother-daughter duo sentenced to total of 32 years for abuse of woman with cognitive disabilities

4 years 5 months 1 week ago Friday, October 18 2019 Oct 18, 2019 October 18, 2019 8:35 AM October 18, 2019 in News
Source: WBRZ

AMITE - A mother and daughter were sentenced to a total of 32 years behind bars for abusing a woman with cognitive disabilities. 

Raylaine Knope, 43 and her daughter Bridget Lambert, 22, were accused of conspiring with other family members to obtain forced labor from a woman named "D.P."

WBRZ's original report on the case is here.

While Knope has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, Lambert faces four years behind bars. 

On May 20, 2019, Knope pleaded guilty to one count of a forced labor conspiracy, one count of a substantive forced labor violation, and one count of misprision of a felony. 

At her plea hearing, Knope admitted that, between Aug. 13, 2015, and June 30, 2016, she conspired with other family members to force D.P. to perform household duties.

She sought D.P.'s compliance through threats of force, psychological abuse, and by physically restraining the woman. 

Knope also admitted that she forced D.P. to live in a locked backyard cage and perform chores in exchange for food and water. 

On Sept. 27, 2018, Knope's daughter Lambert pleaded guilty to one count of a forced labor conspiracy. 

At the plea hearing, Lambert admitted that she participated in D.P.'s abuse. 

Lambert says on one occasion she used a wooden board to strike D.P. in the head with such force that D.P. began to bleed. 

On another occasion, Lambert says she held D.P.'s arm in place while someone else punished D.P. by burning her with a cigarette lighter.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Field Office in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney’s Office. 

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