A St. Tammany Parish grand jury on Wednesday indicted five area males for allegedly raping a French Quarter tourist in a Slidell area trailer park last fall.

The defendants, ranging in ages 16 to 22, each face a mandatory lifetime in prison if on the aggravated rape charge stemming from the Oct. 25, 2008, incident.

Indicted were Chance Ross, 18, and Joshua Reed, 22, both of Slidell, and Elroy Cooper, 18, Ralph Robertson, 17, and Jerell Payton, 16, all of Pearl River. Although just 16, Payton will be tried as an adult.

“During very, very serious crimes (the grand jury has the authority) to charge minors as an adult,” Rick Wood, spokesman for District Attorney Walter Reed, said. “And in this case they did.”

Payton, Ross and Cooper, who were partying in the French Quarter when they met a 19-year-old Kentucky woman and her three friends, all in town for the Voodoo Music Festival, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman George Bonnett said.

Somewhere around the corner of Canal and Rampart streets, the trio convinced the woman to leave her friends and get into their Honda Civic to go for a short ride.

The ride, however, wasn’t so short, Bonnett said.

Within moments the woman changed her mind and asked to be let out. But the trio continued to Slidell, Wood said.

It was there they pulled into a driveway at an Alton area trailer park home where Reed was staying. Robertson was also inside, Bonnett said.

While still in the car two of the defendants allegedly raped the victim. When they were finished, the other three attacked her, Wood said, adding the ordeal lasted about three hours.

Several hours later, shortly before 11 p.m. the victim was dropped off at a gas station on Brownswitch Road. She called authorities and was taken to a hospital, where Sheriff’s Office investigators later interviewed her, Bonnett said. She relayed the make and model of the car, and less than 24 hours later, on Oct. 26, deputies stopped the Honda.

Ross, Cooper and Payton, all inside the car, were arrested.

A day later, on Oct. 27, Reed was arrested. Robertson was arrested on Oct. 28, Bonnett said.

Sheriff’s Office deputies did not charge anyone with kidnapping because aggravated rape can include kidnapping and carries a much stiffer penalty, Bonnett said.

Also indicted:

• A 17-year-old Slidell man was indicted on a charge of aggravated rape, accused of attacking his cousin, 7, from June 1 to July 8 last year.

The incident came to light when the victim told her mother about the attack, and the mother called authorities.

Other details were withheld to protect the identity of the victim.