By JESSICA DAIGLE

Staff Reporter

HAHNVILLE- Lamont Gross, 32, of Houma, has been sentenced to 75 years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections for armed robbery.

Gross was sentenced on March 18 in Hahnville by Judge Kirk Granier, with Assistant District Attorney Kim McElwee prosecuting the case.

According to the St. Charles Parish district attorney’s office, Gross pled guilty to the charge on October 12, 2004.

A pre-sentence investigation, where the judge looks into the past criminal history of the accused after a guilty plea is entered, was conducted.

Gross was arrested on Dec. 18, 2002 as he walked out the door of Roussel’s Antiques in Boutte following an armed robbery.

Gross also had a prior bank robbery conviction in St. Bernard Parish as well as a 1990 armed robbery conviction from Orleans Parish, a spokesperson for the St. Charles Parish district attorney’s office said.

In Feb. 2003, Gross was also one of three men to escape from the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in Killona.

Gross and his fellow escapees were taken back in after being apprehended in St. John the Baptist Parish the next morning.

District Attorney Harry J. Morel, Jr. said that Gross is a dangerous criminal.

“In an effort to protect law abiding citizens, criminals such as Gross must be removed from society to serve lengthy prison terms,” he said.