Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – St. John Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Reserve man who robbed a Laplace discount convenience store, while wrapped in a blue sheet.

Maj. Mike Tregre, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said John Jason Gautreaux, 28, 305 Central Ave., Reserve, was taken into custody last week for  the armed robbery of LaPlace Discount. He said an anonymous tip led deputies to Gautreaux’s home. According to a Sheriff’s Office report, a man wrapped in a sheet with a scarf covering his face used a black crowbar to break the glass to the front door of the store. The man, later identified as Gautreaux, walked behind the counter where an 18-year-old cashier was working, and demanded money from the register. The report said he was still armed with the crowbar, which he shook at the cashier.

Tregre said the cashier complied, and the robber made off with an undisclosed amount of cash from the register. The robber fled the store on a bicycle, heading toward Airline Highway.

The cashier was able to identify Gautreaux from a photographic lineup. Tregre said Gautreaux was questioned by deputies about other crimes he may have committed in the St. John area.

Gautreaux was booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility on a $45,000 bond.