Louisiana Voice

The campaign of Tammy L. Jump as district attorney of Louisiana’s 2^nd Judicial District has been jolted by the arrest of her husband on a single count of molestation of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.

The 2^nd JDC is comprised of the parishes of Jackson, Bienville and Claiborne.

It was the second arrest of Nathan Jump, who was also arrested in February for sexual battery.

Following his first arrest, he has been on leave as principal of the Mt. Olive Christian School in the Claiborne Parish town of Athens, where he and wife Tammy reside.

The latest arrest was the culmination of a months-long investigation into complaints against him. The investigation was the joint effort of the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.

Tammy L. Jump is a graduate of REGENT UNIVERSITY of Virginia Beach, Virginia, formerly Christian Broadcasting Network University, founded in 1977 by Pat Robertson.

Her Facebook page announcing her candidacy for next fall’s election contains a photo of her and husband Nathan and two dogs in the back of a pickup truck. Accompanying the photo is the caption reading, “Public service is only possible with a strong foundation at home. Nathan and I have built our lives around faith, family, and service. These are values that guide everything we do. Those same principles guide my work and my commitment to serving others with fairness and integrity. I am grateful for the support of my family and the community that we are proud to call home.”

Her opponent in next fall’s election is fellow Assistant District Attorney Jim Colvin of Homer, also in Claiborne Parish. The announcement of Nathan Jump’s arrests appeared in the Homer newspaper, The Guardian-Journal.

Her Facebook page also says for more than 25 years she “has devoted her career to handling the [2nJDC’s] most serious cases while building partnerships and programs that make the community safer. She’s not only a prosecutor, but a neighbor who cares about others.”

But in 2015, she became involved in investigating the complaints of several survivors of the New Bethany home for delinquent girls in Arcadia, in Bienville Parish and ended up taking no action against the owner and administrator, fundamentalist preacher Mack Ford who has since died.

As assistant district attorney, Tammy Jump took over the investigation by the DA’s office instead of recusing herself because several of the New Bethany residents had worked for her Gantt family, which survivors say should have been disqualified her because of the apparent conflict of interests. She ended up declining to prosecute Ford for alleged sexual abuse of the women when they were teenage residents of the home, which has since closed. She was Tammy Gantt before she wed Nathan Jump.

Corporate records on file with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office show that Nathan Jump and Linda Gantt are the registered agents for MT. OLIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, incorporated in May 1995,and two other members of the Gantt family, Perry Keith Gantt and James Len Gantt, are officers in the non-profit corporation.

Additionally, Nathan Jump is listed as vice-president of the ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS OF LOUISIANA, incorporated in January 2013, though the records show that non-profit corporation is “not in good standing for failure to file [an] annual report.” It last filed its annual report on Feb. 12, 2025.