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Sheriff’s Office shows wrong person in surveillance tape

By ROBIN SHANNON
Published/Last Modified on Friday, July 18, 2008 2:09 PM CDT

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – St. John authorities have admitted a mistake in the investigation into a woman who allegedly used a bankcard stolen from the nurses’ station at River Parishes Hospital to make purchases at area retail stores.

Maj. Mike Tregre, public information officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office, provided L’Observateur with surveillance photos from security cameras at the CVS Pharmacy in LaPlace that show a female suspect who allegedly used the stolen card to make purchases at the store on June 13. He said detectives used evidence provided from the victim in the case, a 35-year-old nurse who reported her wallet stolen earlier that day.

According to Tregre, the victim told investigators that her bank statement showed that a purchase was made with her card at the pharmacy around 4:50 p.m. on the day her card was stolen. He said when detectives researched the surveillance tapes at the store they concluded that the woman in the photo was the prime suspect.

However, the woman in the photo, upon seeing the story in last Saturday’s newspaper, contacted the sheriff’s office in an attempt to clear her identity. Tregre said further investigation

into the incident proved that an inaccurate time stamp on the CVS camera photo pinpointed the wrong suspect. He said the female in the picture has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Tregre said investigators have been able to identify the person who actually committed the crime, and an arrest warrant will be issued for her arrest in the coming days.

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tangfolio wrote on Jul 21, 2008 10:40 AM:

" My wife's wallet got stolen from her desk, the woman (patient) who stole it ran up a $10,000 credit card bill. She was identified, but never arrested, she was a patient of my wife's. The T.V. was delivered to her house, the evidence was there, but SJSO refused to arrest her, so she wasn't prosecuted. "

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Aleshia wrote on Jul 20, 2008 12:38 AM:

" St. John detectives is always mistaken identity of people and giving them charges for something they have never done and its a shame a person has to go throught the humiliation and embarrassment of being falsely arrested on detectives not doing there job correctly. Its a shame!!! "

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Jennifer wrote on Jul 19, 2008 11:52 AM:

" Way to go St. John's finest, screwing up agian!!!! I feel soooo secure with them on the streets...NOT!!! I wish Guidry would have won..MAYBE the real woman would have been video tape! "

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