VERMILION PARISH, La. (KLFY) – A woman is reeling after finding out her husband of 12 years is trying to get away with a fraudulent divorce.

Teqela Mouton is going through a mix of emotions after learning her husband, Kendrick Paul Francis, was allegedly part of a scheme to get a fraudulent divorce. Another surprise is Mouton claims her husband’s mistress, LaShonda Pope, allegedly impersonated Mouton to to get the divorce granted. 

“The way I'm feeling right now is insane. I really don't know how to feel that a person could actually steal your identity and get away with it,” said Mouton describing a feeling of torture. 

Mouton now lives in Texas where she and her husband have been married for 12 years in November. They have two children together, ages 9 and 14. Mouton said for the past two years, she has been traveling back and forth to the Acadiana region to gather information on how she got divorced. “My husband did not contact me, told me anything about he wanted to divorce me. He didn’t tell me that he filed for a divorce. If he wanted a divorce, I would have given it to him,” she said. 

Mouton said she never received a subpoena or was present in any court proceedings for the alleged divorce. “Upon the paperwork, I couldn't get actual copies of the paperwork due to the fact I had to pay court fees and the only thing they let me do was to look at the paperwork, and when I saw where it was subpoenaed to; LaShonda Pope’s address in Abbeville, Louisiana, which I was in the state of Texas since 2022 and I gathered this information and got an attorney and the attorney looked at all the information and proceed with the matter,” said Mouton. 

In a voice recording shared with News 10, Mouton said Pope tells her, "You have been divorced, it's public record.” It continues as she curses Mouton out and adds, “Guess what you see that ring, guess what I'm about to be married to him next. So you can get ready. I'll get you an invitation."

According to the state and Mouton’s attorney Francis and her are still married. However, according to St. Martin Parish, the divorce was considered fraudulent. The court granted the divorce but was not finalized. Pope had an arraignment at the Vermilion Parish courthouse Thursday morning in front of Commissioner Andre’ Doguet for 1st-degree injuring public records. She pled not guilty. 

Mouton says that the paperwork she gathered had a lot of incorrect information from spelling of names, children’s birthdays and wrong addresses. “My husband's name is Kendrick Paul Francis, and it stated Kendrick Paul Sr. My name is Teqela. On the paperwork, it’s spelled Tequila. My kids' birthdays were incorrect and he had four other kids that were there and their ages were also incorrect. My address was incorrect,” she explained. 

When asked if she discussed the fraudulent divorce with her husband since the discovery, Mouton said they talked about it over the phone, but claimed Francis was aggressive and never completed the conversation without hanging up the phone on her. 

“I feel like I'm on a Lifetime movie trying to put this puzzle together to see how did it even took place. How did the attorney provide the information without my identification? I know my rights and according to anything that you signed that is legal, it has to be an identification, has to be present and I was not present,” she said. 

“I just want peace and I want justice to be served because anybody that knows the law knows how long it takes for a divorce to take place, especially with kids. According to my attorney, we were supposed to file for separation for a year legally. With kids involved, it would have taken another six months for a commercial property and spousal support. It would take us exactly like a year and a half to two years, said Mouton. 

News 10 reached out to Pope and Mouton’s husband who declined to comment. We also reached out to Francis's attorney on the divorce, Robert R. Starnes Jr. who declined to comment. Pope's next court appearance is September 19th at 9 a.m. in front of Judge Thomas Frederick. 

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