BATON ROUGE, La. – The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office has issued an apology for arresting at least 12 gay men as part of a sting undertaken to enforce a state law invalidated by the Supreme Court a decade ago.

The sting, prosecuted in public parks over a two-year period beginning in 2011 and ending on or about July 29, 2013, reportedly sought to enforce Louisiana’s Crimes Against Nature statute, which prohibits “unnatural carnal copulation by a human being with another of the same-sex or opposite-sex or with an animal.” According to published reports, sheriff’s officers solicited gay encounters, then arrested men who agreed to take the proposed activity somewhere private. None of the charges included sex for money or indecent acts in public; in fact, in most cases the only “crime” with which the men were charged was making a date.

In-private, non-commercial sexual relationships between consenting adults, regardless their gender or sexual orientation, have been legal in all 50 U.S. states since the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling declared Texas’ sodomy law unconstitutional in 2003. Nevertheless, Louisiana’s sodomy law remains on the books. Initially, the Baton Rouge sheriff’s department defended its action as appropriate under current state code.

“This is a law that is currently on the Louisiana books, and the sheriff is charged with enforcing the laws passed by our Louisiana Legislature,” a sheriff’s office spokeswoman told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “Whether the law is valid is something for the courts to determine, but the sheriff will enforce the laws that are enacted.”

District Attorney Hillar Moore III said his office prosecuted none of the cases because investigators could find no evidence any of the arrestees committed a crime.

Following a public outcry, the Sheriff’s Office changed its tune — and its attitude.

“The Sheriff’s office [sic] apologizes that the way these investigations were handled made it appear that we were targeting the gay community,” the one-paragraph, undated, unsigned official statement noted. “That was not our intent. The Sheriff’s Office also apologizes to anyone that was unintentionally harmed or offended by the actions of our investigations. While sections of La. R.S. 14:89, Crimes Against Nature, have not been removed from the Louisiana law code, they have been deemed unenforceable and unconstitutional. The Sheriff’s Office will not use these unconstitutional sections of the law in future cases. We are committed to working with all branches of our government, as well as the LGBT community, to find acceptable ways to keep our community safe.”