A tabloid report now claims the father of actor Shia LaBeouf is quietly living in New Orleans while not appearing on Louisiana’s public sex-offender rolls, just as the actor himself is hit with new court restrictions in the city. A judge this week denied LaBeouf permission to travel to Rome for what court filings described as his father's baptism and ordered him into court-supervised substance-abuse treatment.
At a hearing in Orleans Parish Criminal Court, a judge ordered LaBeouf to enroll in drug and alcohol treatment, submit to weekly testing and post $100,000 bond, according to AP. The court also barred him from contacting the alleged victims and criticized what it described as troubling conduct during Mardi Gras, AP reports.
LaBeouf had asked the court for permission to travel to Rome from March 1–8 to attend his father's baptism; TMZ reports the judge denied the request. The hearing follows an alleged early-morning altercation on Fat Tuesday that left LaBeouf charged with two counts of simple battery, as detailed by The Washington Post.
Tabloid flags father's registry status
The U.S. Sun reported that Jeffrey LaBeouf, whom media profiles have long identified as Shia’s father, was convicted of attempted rape in 1981, served time in the early 1980s and is now living in New Orleans, but does not appear in Louisiana’s OffenderWatch database or the federal NSOPW registry, according to the outlet. The U.S. Sun says the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections told the paper it had no record of Jeffrey LaBeouf on state rosters.
What Louisiana law requires
Louisiana law requires offenders to appear in person and register "within three business days of establishing residence" in the state, and it mandates more frequent in-person renewals for the most serious convictions, according to the registration statute published by Justia. Failing to register or to keep registration information current can be prosecuted and carries prison time or hard-labor sentences under the same law.
Many Louisiana agencies publish public registries through the OffenderWatch platform, which the company says has been used by New Orleans-area law enforcement for compliance checks and arrests, a reminder that parish sheriffs and state bureaus rely on shared databases to track and notify about registered offenders. OffenderWatch has highlighted the role its system played in local compliance operations.
Background and next steps
Jeffrey LaBeouf’s history has been referenced in profiles of the family and in coverage of Shia’s career and recovery; People has published a long profile of the parents. The Guardian reports Shia’s next hearing in the battery case is tentatively scheduled for March 19.
If Louisiana officials confirm that a registered offender has established a local address without re-registering, enforcement would fall to the parish sheriff and the state bureau that administers the registry. For now, the claims about Jeffrey LaBeouf’s status rest with the U.S. Sun’s reporting and with any public records local authorities may supply in the coming days.
