ALERT * ALERT * ALERT

Feb 21, 2009 - St. Bernard Parish sheriff's officials are asking the public's help to identify a man who twice robbed the same Chalmette gasoline station: on Sunday, Jan. 18 and on Sunday, Dec. 21, in both cases wearing a white dust-proof mask like the kind used in gutting homes, Sheriff Jack Stephens said. 

The photo shown is from a gasoline station robbery in New Orleans on Jan. 28 and the robber reportedly is the same one who twice robbed the gasoline station in Chalmette. In all three robberies the man, in his 30s or 40s, with a stocky build, wore knit caps with a dust mask. In the Chalmette robberies he ran north on Paris Road and escaped on side streets, both times in the afternoon. It isn't known if he got into a vehicle. No one was injured in any of the robberies. 

Anyone with information should call the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office at (504) 271-2501 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111, where they may be eligible for a reward.

St. Bernard Parish sheriff's deputies stop cars at a DWI checkpoint on West Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette on a recent night. Steve Cannizaro Photo.

	Sgt. Steve Ingargiola of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office conducts a standardized field sobriety test on a motorist at a DWI checkpoint in Chalmette on a recent night as the Sheriff's Office continues a crackdown on suspected driving while intoxicated. The motorist wasn't cited. Steve Cannizaro Photo.

Feb 21, 2009 - More than a dozen St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies took part in a DWI checkpoint in Chalmette on Wednesday night, Feb. 18, as the Sheriff’s office continues to target removing drunk drivers from the road as a means of reducing accidents, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

More than 700 motorists were stopped and questioned by the Sheriff’s Office about whether they had been drinking alcohol beverages and about 20 people who had had at least a drink were required to take a standardized field sobriety test. All of the drivers passed the test and none were arrested.

Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said several motorists told deputies they appreciated the efforts to keep drunk drivers off the roads. “They were glad we were looking for impaired drivers,’’ Pohlmann said. ‘It’s in everyone’s interest that drunks be stopped before they injure  

or kill someone. The whole point is to save lives.’’

A grant this year from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission is being used by he Sheriff’s Office to continue patrols and checkpoints specifically to crackdown on impaired driving as a means to hopefully reduce traffic fatalities and the overall number of crashes, Pohlmann said.

For years the Sheriff’s Office has received grants from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission for specific programs including enforcement of seat belt violations, speeding enforcement and DWI enforcement, Pohlmann said.

This year a grant from the agency will provide money for increasing sheriff’s patrols targeting drunk drivers in St. Bernard Parish, Pohlmann said.

At certain times, especially around holiday periods when people are perhaps more likely to drink and drive, the Sheriff’s Office will “concentrate on an area of the parish with extra enforcement,’’ Pohlmann said. “We saturate that area’’ looking for impaired drivers.

He said there have been fewer DWI arrests in recent months as traffic enforcement has been stepped up and the grant money this year will allow more specific enforcement.

In both 2008 and 2007 there were three traffic fatalities in St. Bernard Parish. The number of overall traffic accidents jumped from 886 in 2007 to 1,381 in 2008 and accidents with injuries rose from 110 to 141 in the same two-year period, which authorities said may partially be explained by an increase in the number of residents who moved back into the parish since the hurricane.

The Sheriff’s Office would like to see the number of traffic accidents lowered and believes targeting impaired drivers and stepping up overall traffic enforcement is a means toward that goal, Pohlmann said.

Feb 20, 2009 - A 15-year-old Violet boy who allegedly shot and wounded his 13-year-old step-sister at his home on Sunday, Feb. 15, then apparently shot himself to the head in a vacant house next door, has died in a New Orleans hospital, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

The boy, whose name hasn’t been released because he is a juvenile, died Thursday night, Feb. 19, in University Hospital, where he was taken when St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies found him in a vacant house at 2309 Edgar Drive in Violet, next to his home at 2313 Edgar. Deputies who responded to a call from the wounded girl heard a gunshot and located the injured boy. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

The girl, shot to the face, underwent surgery and is recovering and is expected to be released from the hospital, authorities said. The girl hasn’t been officially interviewed by detectives from the sheriff’s Juvenile Division.

“This is a sad incident for everyone involved,’’ St. Bernard Parish Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said after speaking with family members at the hospital. “Our hearts go out to the parents, who have lived in St. Bernard Parish for many years.’’

The parents who lived at the residence were not home at the time of the incident, authorities said. The girl doesn’t live full time at the residence.

Pohlmann, who was on the scene after the 5 p.m. shootings on Sunday, said the girl told arriving deputies her step-brother had shot her. Pohlmann said deputies “heard a gunshot next door at a vacant and gutted home, made entry and found the 15-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the head.’’

An investigation is continuing into what happened during the time the boy was with his step-sister and where he got the semi-automatic weapon that was recovered, Pohlmann said.

Feb18, 2009 - Tymerick Bienemy, 21, of Violet, being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison on crack cocaine charges since Jan. 5, is now wanted in the rape of a 5-year-old Algiers girl and will be booked with rape and sexual battery charges, authorities said.

The alleged rape was reported to New Orleans police on Monday, Feb. 16 and a warrant for Bienemy’s arrest was obtained, according to police. There was no information available on the date the rape allegedly took place.

The child is now with her mother, who was dating Bienemy before his arrest, police said, adding the child is from a previous relationship and isn’t Bienemy's daughter.

Bienemy, whose address was listed as 2329 Jamie Court, Violet, was arrested in Chalmette on Jan. 5 by the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Special Investigations Division.

Some 30 pieces of crack cocaine, weighing a total of ¾ of an ounce and worth about $2,100 on the street, were found in a truck Bienemy and another man were stopped in, St. Bernard Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

Bienemy was booked with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and with obstruction of justice for allegedly swallowing a marijuana cigarette as the vehicle was stopped, the sheriff said.

Since his arrest, Bienemy has been held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Feb 20, 2009 - A 15-year-old Violet boy who allegedly shot and wounded his 13-year-old step-sister at his home on Sunday, Feb. 15, then apparently shot himself to the head in a vacant house next door, has died in a New Orleans hospital, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

The boy, whose name hasn’t been released because he is a juvenile, died Thursday night, Feb. 19, in University Hospital, where he was taken when St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies found him in a vacant house at 2309 Edgar Drive in Violet, next to his home at 2313 Edgar. Deputies who responded to a call from the wounded girl heard a gunshot and located the injured boy. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

The girl, shot to the face, underwent surgery and is recovering and is expected to be released from the hospital, authorities said. The girl hasn’t been officially interviewed by detectives from the sheriff’s Juvenile Division.

“This is a sad incident for everyone involved,’’ St. Bernard Parish Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said after speaking with family members at the hospital. “Our hearts go out to the parents, who have lived in St. Bernard Parish for many years.’’

The parents who lived at the residence were not home at the time of the incident, authorities said. The girl doesn’t live full time at the residence.

Pohlmann, who was on the scene after the 5 p.m. shootings on Sunday, said the girl told arriving deputies her step-brother had shot her. Pohlmann said deputies “heard a gunshot next door at a vacant and gutted home, made entry and found the 15-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the head.’’

An investigation is continuing into what happened during the time the boy was with his step-sister and where he got the semi-automatic weapon that was recovered, Pohlmann said.

Feb 15, 2009 - When St. Bernard Parish residents are gathering to take in a parade or festival, the Sheriff’s Office now has the ability to quickly spot any trouble from above before it gets out of control. The Sky Watch hydraulic tower that can be moved about by trailer was acquired through a grant last year and has been used at special occasions such as the Trick or Trunk event last Halloween and at festivals.

The portable tower, which rises more than 30 feet in the air, debuted at a St. Bernard parade for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 15, when the Knights of Nemesis rolled with 27 floats and 50 marching units in Chalmette and Arabi.

Sky Watch, which has a deputy sheriff inside its booth to scan the crowd in all directions to look for possible trouble, will also be used Sunday, March 8 at the St. Bernard Irish Italian Islenos Parade in Chalmette, which starts at 11 a.m. It will also be used at festivals throughout the year.

St. Bernard Parish Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said the Sky Watch trailer, which is made of several tons of steel, gives the Sheriff’s Office the ability to see up and down a parade route or across festival grounds to know if anything out of the ordinary is going on in a crowd.

“We have very few problems at our parades, especially since all of them now are held during daylight hours,’’ Pohlmann said. “But Sky Watch could be invaluable in being able to quickly detect something happening in a crowd, such as a fight or someone running away after an incident.’’

When set up at a major intersection, a sheriff’s deputy in the Sky Watch booth can scan not only a parade route but what is happening for several blocks on the side street off the route, Pohlmann said.

“It’s another tool in the arsenal of law enforcement,’’ Pohlmann said.

Feb 12, 2009 - A 22-year-old Meraux woman was arrested Monday, Feb. 9 after confessing under questioning that she burglarized a neighbor’s residence that day and left her two-year-old child alone at home during the crime, Sheriff Jack Stephens said. 

Lacey N. Pfiffner, 2905 Earl Drive, was booked with burglary, child desertion and possession of stolen property valued at more than $500.  Items taken in the burglary, including jewelry, clothing and other property, were recovered after Pfiffner acknowledged burglarizing another home on Earl Drive, agreed to a search of her residence and turned over the stolen goods.

Pfiffner confessed during an interview with sheriff’s detectives shortly after the victim reported finding her residence burglarized on Monday, Feb. 9. The woman also admitted leaving her young child at home during the burglary, the basis for the child desertion charge. The child was turned over to a relative after the mother’s arrest. Pfiffner was booked into St. Bernard Parish Prison and has been released on bond.

Feb 9, 2009 - An ounce of cocaine worth about $100 gram or up to $2,800 total, a separate charge of possession of 28 grams but less than 200 grams of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia was seized in a home freezer and a man carrying some $4,000 and a woman were arrested after a search warrant was executed in Chalmette on Friday, Feb. 6, Sheriff Jack Stephens said. A digital scale and $150 cut baggies were also found, indicating the pair was involved in distribution of cocaine.

Members of the sheriff’s Special Investigations Division, commanded by Col. Chad Clark, acting on information they received, obtained a search warrant for a residence at 8529 Valor Drive in Chalmette on Feb. 6. Two plastic bags each containing an off white rock substance which tested positive for cocaine were found in he freezer. Using a scale at the scene, the cocaine weighed one ounce, or 28 grams.

Bridget Brown, 36, was arrested at the scene and Dammond Demolle, 28, of the same address, was later found with some $4,000 cash, authorities said. Demolle and Brown were both booked with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and a separate charge of possession of at least 28 grams of cocaine but less than 200 and with possession of drug paraphernalia. Both Demolle and Brown were released from jail on Monday, Feb. 9 after posting commercial surety bonds of $52,500 each.

Lt. Mike Ingargiola of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office Traffic Division administers a standardized field sobriety test to a motorist in Chalmette during a DWI enforcement check. At right is Sheriff's Deputy Terry Meyer. Steve Cannizaro Photo.		St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Deputy Terry Meyer heads back to his patrol car after issuing a citation to a driver in Chalmette. Steve Cannizaro Photo.

Feb 6, 2009 - Drunk drivers are specifically being targeted by the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office under a grant this year from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission as a means to reduce traffic fatalities and the overall number of crashes, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

“The whole point is trying to save lives,’’ said St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann. “The emphasis is to get impaired drivers off the road and an increase in traffic enforcement will hopefully reduce fatalities and accidents.’’

For years the Sheriff’s Office has received grants from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission for specific programs including enforcement of seat belt violations, speeding enforcement and DWI enforcement, Pohlmann said.

This year a grant from the agency will provide money for increasing sheriff’s patrols targeting drunk drivers in St. Bernard Parish, Pohlmann said.

At certain times, especially around holiday periods when people are perhaps more likely to drink and drive, the Sheriff’s Office will “concentrate on an area of the parish with extra enforcement,’’ Pohlmann said. “We saturate that area’’ looking for impaired drivers.

He said there have been fewer DWI arrests in recent months as traffic enforcement has been stepped up and the grant money this year allow more specific enforcement.

In both 2008 and 2007 there were three traffic fatalities in St. Bernard Parish. The number of overall traffic accidents jumped from 886 in 2007 to 1,381 in 2008 and accidents with injuries rose from 110 to 141 in the same two-year period, which authorities said may partially be explained by an increase in the number of residents who moved back into the parish since the hurricane.

Feb 5, 2009 - A Salvadoran man who had been living in New Orleans is wanted for the attempted murder of a Chalmette married couple shot and wounded Tuesday night, Feb. 3, in a vehicle as they were leaving a store parking lot after seeing the assailant for the first time in 15 years after knowing him in El Salvador, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

Sheriff’s detectives were in the process of obtaining a warrant for the arrest of Jose “Alex’’ Rojas, no age available, who allegedly fired several shots from a vehicle, grazing one man’s jaw and grazing the woman on a hand, neither seriously injured. The victims are a married couple who are from El Salvador but have been living for years in Chalmette. Rojas allegedly fired from a vehicle in which there were two other men who haven’t been identified.

The shooting victims claimed Rojas murdered the male victim’s brother in El Salvador about 15 years ago but they said they hadn't seen him since until they met in a Home Depot store on West Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette the night of Tuesday, Feb. 3.

“There is no way we can verify’’ the story about the killing in El Salvador at this time, said St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann. “By chance, according to the victims, they had last seen each other in El Salvador but meet in a Home Depot store in Chalmette.’’ “The target (of the shooting) seemed to be the male victim,’’ Pohlmann said.

Anyone with information on Rojas’ whereabouts should call the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501. Rojas, from El Salvador although it isn’t know if he is legally in this country, was last seen driving a 1994 white, 4-door Honda Civic with Louisiana license plate RWZ253 that was registered in Lafayette.

The incident happened just after 7 p.m. on the edge of the Home Depot parking lot in Chalmette on Tuesday night, Feb. 3.

The victims, who were treated for their injuries but not hospitalized, saw the alleged assailant in the store just a short while prior to the shootings, Pohlmann said. Words were exchanged at that time but there wasn’t any other incident in the store.  Rojas, who is seen on a store surveillance camera with others helping load items on a cart for a man who may have been employing him, and the others left the store first, Pohlmann said.

He said the victims left the store then went back inside to purchase something else, before again leaving and going to their vehicle.

As they drove at the edge of the parking lot about to exit on to West Judge Perez Drive, Rojas - inside what authorities would later learn was a Chevrolet Blazer – allegedly ambushed the other vehicle and fired several shots, striking the man and woman passengers, Pohlmann said.

Rojas and the unidentified men got away but a sheriff’s deputy on patrol on Wednesday, Feb. 4, spotted a vehicle matching the description of the getaway vehicle as it was parked on East Solidelle Street at LaPlace St., just off Paris Road in Chalmette.

Residents at the address, who said they knew an Alex but he didn’t live there, said the vehicle had been parked there the night before. The car was determined to e the one used in the shooting but no gun was recovered, Pohlmann said.

Sheriff’s detectives, commanded by Col. John Doran, learned Rojas lived in eastern New Orleans but his landlord said Rojas had packed up and left.

ALERT * ALERT * ALERT

Feb 5, 2009 - A Salvadoran man who had been living in New Orleans is wanted for the attempted murder of a Chalmette married couple shot and wounded Tuesday night, Feb. 3, in a vehicle as they were leaving a store parking lot after seeing the assailant for the first time in 15 years after knowing him in El Salvador, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

Sheriff’s detectives were in the process of obtaining a warrant for the arrest of Jose “Alex’’ Rojas, no age available, who allegedly fired several shots from a vehicle, grazing one man’s jaw and grazing the woman on a hand, neither seriously injured. The victims are a married couple who are from El Salvador but have been living for years in Chalmette. Rojas allegedly fired from a vehicle in which there were two other men who haven’t been identified.

The shooting victims claimed Rojas murdered the male victim’s brother in El Salvador about 15 years ago but they said they hadn't seen him since until they met in a Home Depot store on West Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette the night of Tuesday, Feb. 3.

“There is no way we can verify’’ the story about the killing in El Salvador at this time, said St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann. “By chance, according to the victims, they had last seen each other in El Salvador but meet in a Home Depot store in Chalmette.’’ “The target (of the shooting) seemed to be the male victim,’’ Pohlmann said.

Anyone with information on Rojas’ whereabouts should call the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501. Rojas, from El Salvador although it isn’t know if he is legally in this country, was last seen driving a 1994 white, 4-door Honda Civic with Louisiana license plate RWZ253 that was registered in Lafayette.

The incident happened just after 7 p.m. on the edge of the Home Depot parking lot in Chalmette on Tuesday night, Feb. 3.

The victims, who were treated for their injuries but not hospitalized, saw the alleged assailant in the store just a short while prior to the shootings, Pohlmann said. Words were exchanged at that time but there wasn’t any other incident in the store.  Rojas, who is seen on a store surveillance camera with others helping load items on a cart for a man who may have been employing him, and the others left the store first, Pohlmann said.

He said the victims left the store then went back inside to purchase something else, before again leaving and going to their vehicle.

As they drove at the edge of the parking lot about to exit on to West Judge Perez Drive, Rojas - inside what authorities would later learn was a Chevrolet Blazer – allegedly ambushed the other vehicle and fired several shots, striking the man and woman passengers, Pohlmann said.

Rojas and the unidentified men got away but a sheriff’s deputy on patrol on Wednesday, Feb. 4, spotted a vehicle matching the description of the getaway vehicle as it was parked on East Solidelle Street at LaPlace St., just off Paris Road in Chalmette.

Residents at the address, who said they knew an Alex but he didn’t live there, said the vehicle had been parked there the night before. The car was determined to e the one used in the shooting but no gun was recovered, Pohlmann said.

Sheriff’s detectives, commanded by Col. John Doran, learned Rojas lived in eastern New Orleans but his landlord said Rojas had packed up and left.

Feb 2, 2009 - The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office is warning residents about a phone scam in which callers have told people they won a money prize and a vehicle but must first send $150 as a delivery fee and check activation charge.

Three similar reports have been made to the Sheriff’s Office in recent weeks but no one has reported sending any money to the caller, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

“If something sounds too good to be true then it’s not true,’’ Pohlmann said in warning residents not to fall for any scam in which someone says they have won something but must send a fee to collect it. “A legitimate prize doesn’t require the winner to pay for it,’’ Pohlmann said. Anyone receiving such an offer should never send money and should report the incident to the Sheriff’s Office.

Pohlmann said the scam attempts are under investigation and information will be passed along to federal authorities.

In the latest scam attempt, reported by a Chalmette resident on Jan. 31, a woman caller claiming to work for the Carlene James Co. in Jamaica said the resident had won $1 million and a vehicle but he must first send $150, according to a report filed with the Sheriff’s Office. The resident told the caller he would discuss it with his wife and then hung up, but the same woman called several more times and the resident reported the incidents to the Sheriff’s Office. A sheriff’s deputy went to the resident’s home and called the number where the call originated from, posing as the resident, and spoke to a man who said he had won money and a vehicle but must send the $150 delivery fee for the vehicle and activation fee for the check that would be sent to him. When the officer said he was a sheriff’s deputy the man on the other end of the line quickly hung up.

Two other similar reports have been made to authorities by St. Bernard residents in recent weeks, both of which involved announcements that the resident had won money and a vehicle but had to first send a fee, Pohlmann said.