A North Carolina truck driver accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Texarkana truck stop in 2016 is scheduled for an April jury trial in Miller County.
Jocelyn Louissaint, 48, stood with Texarkana defense attorney Jeff Harrelson for a pretrial hearing Tuesday before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. After discussing a trial setting with Harrelson and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell, Haltom set the case for jury selection April 23 at the Miller County courthouse.
Louissaint has been free on a $150,000 bond since his arrest in November 2016. Louissaint was identified by a Haitian native with permanent residency status in the U.S. as the man who sexually assaulted her Oct. 10 at the Flying J Truck Stop in Texarkana, Ark., shortly before 6 p.m., according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police were called when a woman exiting a Freightliner truck screaming told a witness she had been assaulted. The witness reportedly gave police a photo of the truck he took before it drove away. The woman told officers she is from Haiti and currently living in Florida. She stated that she knows Louissaint from Haiti and that she rode with him from Miami to Texarkana. The woman showed police her Florida ID card and permanent residency card which shows her country of origin as Haiti.
The woman reported that while at the Texarkana truck stop, Louissaint pinned her arms, held a knife to her throat and raped and sodomized her in his truck. The alleged victim was taken to a local hospital where a sexual assault examination was performed.
Video surveillance footage from the Flying J allegedly shows Louissaint pulling up to gas pumps in a light blue Freightliner with the words, “Joe Louis Logistics, Greensboro, NC,” stenciled on the side.
Louissaint’s truck is allegedly seen pulling up to the pumps and remaining for a, “lengthy period of time.” The store manager told police the driver entered the store and paid for $400 in fuel which he never pumped into his truck.
Later the manager contacted investigators and told them a man identifying himself as Joe Louis called the store and asked that the $400 charge to his card be refunded, allegedly claiming he did not get gas because the pump wouldn’t work. The store manager gave police the driver’s license number provided by the suspect truck driver and the number allegedly returned as belonging to Louissaint.
Louissaint has been charged with two counts of rape, each of which is punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.
