Timely calls and information from witnesses who see suspicious activity are continuing to result in arrests in St. Bernard Parish, including a total of seven recently in three cases of theft and possession of stolen property, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.
Anyone who sees something in their neighborhood that looks out of place should call the Sheriff’s Office at 271-2501, Sheriff Stephens said, because calls including descriptions of people and vehicles involved lead to arrests.
Four men were arrested Wednesday, Aug. 6 for theft over $500 after a call from witnesses who saw them loading a pickup trailer and trailer with scrap metal they allegedly stole from a business in the 500 block of Florissant Highway in eastern St. Bernard, the sheriff said.
A sheriff’s deputy saw the vehicle on Louisiana 46 Extension and stopped the men. Witnesses identified the men and the vehicle as the ones they saw at the business or shortly afterward, the sheriff said.
The four, none of whom have known addresses, are David Francisco, 23; Antonio Peraza, 27; Oscar Francisco, 23; and Oscar Hernandez, 36. All are being held in St. Bernard Parish prison in lieu of $20,000 bonds.
Also, on Aug. 6, Louis Melerine Jr., 30, 5648 East St. Bernard Highway, Violet, was booked with theft over $500, criminal trespass and giving false information about his identity in a case involving theft of copper tubing from a shed, Sheriff Stephens said.
The resident at the address where the theft occurred called authorities and later said a neighbor informed him he saw Melerine exiting a window of the victim’s shed, carrying copper tubing. Melerine allegedly told the witness he had permission to scrap the materials, the sheriff said.
Sheriff’s deputies went to the home of Melerine and his father and found the son hiding partially under a bed, Sheriff Stephens said. The son at first identified himself to officers by a different name but later recanted that and acknowledged he was Louis Melerine Jr.
He was arrested after the man who witnessed the theft identified Melerine as the man he saw, the sheriff said.
Melerine is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $30,000 bond.
On Friday, Aug. 1, two Chalmette residents, Charles Lanier, 30, 3020 Lloyds Ave., and Jessica Jenkins, 27, 603 West St. Bernard Highway, were both booked with possession of stolen property, copper tubing that was sold to a scrap metal dealer in Chalmette, the sheriff said.
Both have been released from Parish Prison but the amounts of bond weren’t available.
A woman who owns property on Stander Place in Chalmette said she received a call from a neighbor who said he saw a vehicle that was backed into her driveway but had left, the sheriff said. The neighbor also gave her a description of the vehicle and its license plate number.
The woman said she found the back door open when she returned to the residence, water was on the floor and water line tubing had been cut.
Sheriff’s deputies who answered the call spoke to the owner and neighbor and visited a scrap metal yard in Chalmette where employees recalled a vehicle matching the description supplied by the victim’s neighbor, the sheriff said. A business surveillance tape showed the vehicle and three subjects, two men and a woman.
Officers went to the address where the vehicle was registered and the owner acknowledged, that in exchange for $10, he drove someone to Stander Place to pick up copper from a job he was working on, then took him to the scrap yard and brought him home, the sheriff said.
Also, using information from the scrap yard, deputies found Lanier and Jenkins in a vehicle outside Jenkins’ home and they were wearing clothing that matched those in the business video, Sheriff Stephens said.
Both blamed each other, the sheriff said, but both were arrested and taken to Parish Prison.
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