By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A 16-year veteran of the St. John Sheriff’s Department was taken into custody Monday evening after being indicted by a state grand jury on charges of aggravated rape, second-degree battery and attempted sexual battery.

Maj. Mike Tregre, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said Allen Wayne Schaeffer, a former lieutenant, was taken into custody without incident at his home around 6 p.m. Monday.

According to the indictment, filed in the 40th Judicial District Court, Schaeffer is charged with one count of aggravated rape in connection with an incident in November 2005, and one count of second-degree battery in connection with a May 2006 incident. In both incidents, the alleged victim was Tracey Mutz, a former girlfriend of Schaeffer who filed a domestic dispute complaint against him with the St. John Sheriff’s Office in October of 2007.

The one count of attempted sexual battery listed on the indictment comes from an incident in February 2007 involving a woman who was allegedly accosted by Schaeffer as she sat in a parked car behind the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace.

According to the arrest report, Schaeffer was booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on the rape and battery charges. His bond was initially set at

$235,000, but was later raised by the state attorney general’s office to $335,000 when they discovered he would be bonding out Tuesday.

Assistant Attorney General Ali Shields said the increased bond was due to the fact that her office believed Schaeffer could be a danger to the alleged victims, as well as a flight risk.

Along with raising the bond, Shields said District Judge J. Sterling Snowdy issued a stay-away order for the alleged victims. She added that St. John Sheriff’s deputies would increase patrols near the homes of the alleged victims.

Sheriff Wayne Jones said Schaeffer, 47, was fired in October after State Police performed an investigation into Mutz’s domestic dispute complaint. Jones said Schaeffer’s conduct while in office was enough to warrant the highly respected lieutenant’s termination.

Jones said Schaeffer was placed in a cell apart from the rest of the prison population. Plans are also in the works to move Schaeffer to another facility to keep him from being incarcerated with inmates he may have arrested.

Shields, who is prosecuting the case against Schaeffer, said Schaeffer would be arraigned on January 24.