BY SUE ELLEN ROSS – Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Sheriffs deputies apprehended and arrested two suspects Saturday in unrelated incidents; one during an afternoon call, and one during an evening call.

Larry Clements, 29, 70001 Bunker Hill, New Orleans East, was arrested in the Winn-Dixie Grocery Store, 1830 W. Airline Hwy.

According to Chief Klibert of the Sheriff’s Department, a Winn-Dixie employee called authorities at approximately 2:55 p.m. to report a nude man walking through the store. The employee asked the man to cover himself, and in turn, he asked her to call the Sheriff’s Office, saying. “I want to go to jail.”

The employee found a butcher’s coat and gave it to Clements, who draped it across his legs while he waited for deputies to arrive.

He was found sitting on a bench inside the store, was arrested and charged with Obscenity-First Offense, and transferred to the St. John Parish jail.

Later that day, in an unrelated event, a 15-year-old juvenile was apprehended in the 700 block of D’Iberville after being chased by sheriff’s deputies.

A call came in to the Sheriff’s Office at approximately 9 p.m. from an employee working at Danny and Clyde’s Food Store, 805 Newport Dr. to report a robbery had just taken place. A young black male, armed with a gun, had stolen $400 cash from the cash register inside the store. He was dressed in black and wearing a red bandana, according to witnesses. After the robbery, the suspect fled on foot, running north on Greenwood Street.

Sheriff’s Deputy Borcherding arrived on the scene and exited his car to pursue the suspect. At the same time, Deputy Keith Brooks of the Canine Unit was in the area and saw the suspect near Bienville and Greenwood Streets. Brooks exited his vehicle to pursue the suspect.

Both deputies apprehended the juvenile, who was hiding behind a car in the 700 block of D’Iberville. They found a 9 mm pistol in his front right pocket; and a magazine with nine rounds of 9 mm ammunition in his back pocket. Near the car, they also found a white bag with a black hat and $400 inside. The red bandana was found in the parking lot of Ascension Church.

The juvenile was arrested for armed robbery. He was then transported to the government building, and then to the Juvenile Correction Center in St. James.

His continued custody hearing took place on March 15. The St. John Parish District Attorney will file a bill in court, in regard to trying the juvenile as an adult.

“The deputies did an outstanding job,” said Chief Klibert. “They recovered all the evidence – the clothes, the money and the gun.”