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The arrest of a Terrebonne Parish substitute teacher accused of sexual activity with underage boys has had an unfortunate effect on a different local teacher, who shares the woman’s name, but otherwise has no connection to her, and is in no way involved in the case.
Heidi Marie Domangue, who is 38-years-old and from Chauvin, has been spending a lot of time over the past 24 hours explaining to people who know her – including parents of her students – that she is not the substitute teacher identified by the same name in online news stories, who remains jailed on three counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.
The substitute teacher accused of a crime is 30-years-old and does not have an accessible Facebook page. She was identified by Houma police in a news release by her married name, Heidi Verret. However, Heidi Verret was booked into the Terrebonne Parish jail under her maiden name, Heidi Domangue.
Compounding problems for Heidi Marie Domangue the artist, an international gossip news site ran elements of the carnal knowledge story, using photos from Heidi the artist’s Facebook page, adding to the confusion.
The Times ran a story on the substitute teacher’s arrest at its site, houmatimes.com but it identifies the suspect by her married name, Verret. The Times opted to do so after determining there were two women in Terrebonne Parish named Heidi Domangue.
“People are freaking out calling my friends thinking it’s me,” Heidi Marie Domangue the artist wrote in a series of Facebook texts with The Times. She recalled how in the past, the name of another Heidi Domangue would turn up at doctor offices, requiring use of birthdate as a differential.
“There is another person in our town that has the same name as me and there is a huge misunderstanding,” Heidi Domangue the artist wrote in a post on Facebook. “Yes my name is Heidi Marie Domangue. I am 38 years old. I am the talented art (for real) teacher in Terrebonne parish and I am an artist. I AM NOT Repeat NOT not Not The Heidi Verret aka Heidi Marie Domangue who is 30 years old who substitute taught that slept with some of her students in terrebonne parish. I’ve known my whole life there was another name exactly as mine in this parish as I would need records with hospitals and government stuff. I always thought it would be cool to actually meet her. Well not anymore. This is a nightmare. I’m sorry to my friends who are getting harassed by their friends for knowing me. But that’s okay they know who I am. I’m sorry to my students and their parents right now for I hope they are not freaking out. I’m sad for myself having to go through this insane accusation. I would never even think of this. And to think I promote purity to my students.”
As a visual artist and art teacher, Heidi Domangue the artist has a high-profile web presence. That resulted in a self-styled New York muckraker, Christopher Koulouris, to write a piece on the teacher arrest in his blog, which gets international exposure. Koulouris used photos from Heidi the artist’s Facebook page to illustrate his blog piece, and people who know her were greatly alarmed and confused.
Houma resident Fanny Pellegrin is among people close to Heidi Domangue the artist, who was horrified by any suggestion of improper behavior by a woman who is among her best friends.
“I always say to her, anything you touch becomes better,” Pellegrin said. “We share a lot of the same thoughts about life and living, she is a fun loving, free spirited being. She is constantly trying to better herself by living a healthy lifestyle. Her beautiful little boy is her world,” Pellegrin said. “It hurts so much to see her going through this. I love her so much and if any positive comes out of this i hope it is that people see the amazing and talented artist my friend is. She is a beautiful beam of loving light.”
The article on the substitute teacher’s arrest that ran in the Houma Courier’s site, houmatoday.com, used the name under which the woman was booked.
Bridget Mire, a Courier writer who wrote the story for houmatoday.com, posted a message onto Heidi the artist’s Facebook page attempting to explain the use of the name identical to hers.
“Heidi, I’m sorry this has happened to you and that you’re unfortunate enough to share the same name as this woman … We decided to go with the official record, aka the booking log, for the last name. We ran the suspect’s photo and age, not yours. What would have happened if there was another Heidi Verret? I sent you our editors’ contact information, but that’s about all I can do right now.”
Identical first and last names – and in some cases, as this one, identical first, middle and last names, occur with some frequency in Terrebonne and other south Louisiana parishes.
Journalism experts say the way for newspapers to avoid confusion and the potential for misidentification is to include as much of the differentiating information as possible, for example, addresses or differing middle names.
Dr. Lloyd Chiasson, professor of journalism at Nicholls State University, said the unfortunate situation magnifies the difference between trained print journalists and bloggers.
“It says everything,” Chiasson said. “Bloggers may be well meaning but they don’t have the training. That’s why you have to be careful with anything on the internet and certainly any blogging. Good journalism is gong to come from the trained practitioners and not those playing at journalism.”
Heidi Domangue Verret – the former substitute teacher – was arrested Wednesday.
Houma police say they were investigating allegedly inappropriate social media texts sent between Verret and a 12-year-old boy. While investigating that they were told of alleged sexual relations between Verret and three teen boys at her east Houma residence over a period of two months.
None of the sexual counters were alleged to have occurred on school property. When Terrebonne officials learned of the inappropriate texts they took her name off their substitute teacher list and advised the boy’s parents to notify police.
A detailed story on the investigation into Heidi Verret’s case will appear next week on houmatimes.com and in the print version of The Times.
