Klan member pleads guilty to accessory

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News
Published on Friday, June 26, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

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Danielle Jones, 23, of Bogalusa pleaded guilty Thursday to being an accessory after the fact for her role in the November 2008 killing of a Tulsa, Okla., woman who wanted to be in the Ku Klux Klan.

Jones and seven other Klan members were arrested Nov. 12, 2008, by the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office after the body Cynthia Lynch was found at a campsite in a remote part of northern St. Tammany Parish.

Jones told 22nd District Judge Reginald Badeaux that she was present when Raymond Chuck Foster, also from Bogalusa, allegedly shot Lynch after the woman decided she did not want continue with the initiation into the Sons of Dixieland Brotherhood chapter of the KKK, of which Foster was the grand wizard. Later on, Jones admitted she misled deputies during their investigation.

“Basically, she lied to the police,” said Rick Wood, St. Tammany District Attorney Walter Reed’s spokesman.

Foster is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder.

Jones could have faced five years in jail for her part in the murder. However, Badeaux sentenced her to a one year prison sentence.

Also arrested and waiting trail for obstruction of justice are Andrew Yates, 20, Random Hines, 27, Shane Foster, 20, Timothy Watkins, 31 and Alicia Watkins, 23.

On April 30 of this year, one of the Klan members, Shane Stafford, 21, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and Badeaux sentenced him to four years in prison.

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