By JIM BUTLER

Patrick Hammond shocked the parish with his first felony. His latest arrest goes almost unnoticed.

Hammond, 58, was jailed Saturday on drug and traffic charges, his fourth arrest of 2024.

His first felony conviction in 1987 came after what Judge William Polk Jr. at the time labeled insidious and sadistic.

The horror of his cruelty to a juvenile: puncturing an eight-month-old girl with a safety pin.

Examining physicians counted more than 200 skin punctures, as well as bruises over the baby’s eyes and an ear, a swollen hand and non-accident trauma.

Hammond pleaded guilty though he denied that he stomped the child.

“Budgie” Polk sentenced him to five years, the mid-point of the then-permitted sentence.

The judge at sentencing said he considered Hammond’s youth and the fact the case was his first felony conviction, as well as his hope incarceration would help the defendant overcome substance abuse.

If Hammond did, it allegedly didn’t last.

His February 15 arrest alleged heroin possession as well as OWI. On February 20 he was jailed again on OWI and other traffic counts.

In April Hammond failed to renew his registration in the state sex offender registry.

He was convicted in July 2014 of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.