'I'm not gay': Married Louisiana GOP lawmaker, 40, admits sexting a 17-year-old boy but insists they never had sex and he is not homosexual
- Married lawmaker Mike Yenni admitted sexting the 17-year-old boy in 2015
- He insists he is 'not gay' and said that he and the teen never had sex
- But he admits sending the boy multiple messages of a sexual nature
- Refused to comment on allegations he'd also kissed the teen in a bathroom and bought him underwear
- His wife Michelle was disappointed but is standing by her husband
- Other Jefferson officials are demanding that he resign but he's carrying on
- A sexual relationship would have been legal under Louisiana law
A married Louisiana politician who admitted sending sexual text messages to a 17-year-boy has insisted that he is 'not gay'.
Mike
Yenni was investigated by the FBI last month over allegations he'd had
an improper relationship with the teen in 2015 who claimed the GOP
lawmaker kissed him, bought him underwear and sent sexts of threesome
fantasies.
In
an interview with Fox 8, Yenni, the former mayor of Kenner, Louisiana,
admits he texted the boy but said that they never had any sexual
contact.
He also insisted 'I'm not gay'.
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Scandal: Jefferson Parish President
Mike Yenni (left, with wife Michelle Swanner and daughter Reagan)
admitted to sending sexts to a 17-year-old high school boy in 2015
The Jefferson Parish President's wife Michelle is standing by her husband, Nola reports.
Although she said she was upset and disappointed by the news, after praying she decided that 'our family will be better together'.
'And
this is something that we can pass and be stronger from, and we've been
better since. And we work hard at our marriage. I think it's taught us
not to take each other for granted as well.'
The scandal began after a Brown student wrote a story titled 'I was seduced by a politician' for The Tab.
His
account claims a man, named as 'Kevin' for the purposes of the article,
had frequently text him talking about how they might meet up for a
sexual encounter.
On
one occasion, he says the politician had bought him designer underwear
and arranged to meet him in a mall bathroom where they shared an illicit
kiss.
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Yenni
refused to comment on any details of the account during his interview,
aside to admit that he did sext the teenager and insist that they never
had sex.
'I sent
inappropriate text messages,' he said. 'We had some off color texts. At
no time did I ever think he was not a consenting adult.'
In an interview with Fox 8, Yenni, the
former mayor of Kenner, Louisiana, admits he texted the boy but said
that they never had any sexual contact
He also insisted that; 'I'm not gay' in the interview to explain his sexting
Age
of consent in Louisiana is 17, although Yenni could potentially face
charges through a federal law banning texting with anyone under 18.
Yenni called the sexting 'one of the stupidest decisions I have ever made'.
When
asked whether the electorate should be concerned about his judgement,
he argued that it was just one mistake made during 17 years in politics.
In
fact, his sexting has landed him in trouble before when, while chief
administrative officer in Kenner, he allegedly used his city-funded
BlackBerry to sext multiple men and a woman.
In this case, Yenni claims that The Tab article has overblown the interaction between himself and the teenager.
'There are a lot of elements of that story I truly believe are certainly fictional,' he told Fox 8 without elaborating further.
'One thing that the author of that article and I can absolutely agree in is that there was no sex.'
Yenni claims that he first met the boy through a group text message.
He also released an infomercial
(pictured),where he apologizes for the messages - but doesn't broach
other allegations, including claims he kissed the boy and bought him
underwear
When asked about the alleged liaison in the mall, all Yenni would confirm was that they met once, briefly.
'He alleges a kiss,' the Fox 8 interviewer said of the young student.
Once again, Yenni dodged the question.
'There was no sex,' he replied.
Yenni
said he had refused to confirm or deny any of the allegations made in
the article 'line by line' as he did not want to further the story.
He
believes the story has been twisted as a form of 'gay bashing' to try
and 'define' him as a pedophile and homosexual - both of which he
denies.
'I'm not gay,' he added.
The Republican who has a three-year-old daughter with wife Michelle, also addressed the story with an infomercial last month.
'Last
summer I was old enough to know better, but I guess I was still young
enough to do something stupid,' the 40-year-old Jefferson Parish
President said in the video posted by NOLA.com.
Denial: Yenni, a
Republican politician, denies he misused his powers as a public
official, but admits that the sexts were 'a bad decision'
'I
chose to send improper texts to a young man,' he explains. 'I won't go
into details out of respect for the rights and privacy of all parties.'
According to WWL TV,
Yenni was introduced to the youth by a 19-year-old mutual friend at a
function being held at the boy's Catholic high school and their
relationship developed through phone and text messages
The youth provided WWL with text messages sent by Yenni from a personal number. That number is not being billed to taxpayers.
In the texts, Yenni allegedly asks the boy if he's worn the underwear and says he wants to see him modeling them.
He also says he want
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