Three separate incidents still under investigation, citizens on alert

By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Three armed robberies occurring over a span of a week are under investigation by St. John Sheriff’s deputies.

Maj. Mike Tregre, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said the cases are separate incidents, and police have no reason to believe at this time that the robberies are related.

The most recent incident happened December 27 around 8:30 p.m. when a 41-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint in front of his home in the 2000 block of South Sugar Ridge Drive while he cleaned out a garbage can. A sheriff’s Office report said two men approached the subject, took his wallet and a pack of cigarettes, and fled in an unknown direction.

This incident followed two separate armed attacks occurring within a couple days of each other.

The first incident occurred December 20 around 2 a.m. at a Waffle House Restaurant located at 4304 Main St. in LaPlace.

According to police reports, a black male wearing dark jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt entered the store from the front, while another black male, wearing dark jeans and a blue hooded sweatshirt with yellow lettering, entered from the rear.

The men, armed with guns, approached an employee near the cash register, and demanded the money inside. The employee complied, and the suspects fled the restaurant on foot in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The second incident happened two days later when police received a call from a 37-year-old Reserve woman who stated that three black males attempted to steal her 2005 Chevrolet Impala while she was driving down East 24th Street in Reserve.

According to the report, the woman was driving north when she observed something in the street blocking her path. As she was stopping, the men, one armed with a gun, approached her vehicle and forced her out. The men then got into the car and began to drive the vehicle backwards. The driver lost control of the car and steered it into a ditch on the side of the road. The three men exited the vehicle and fled the scene on foot.

All three incidents remain under investigation, and anyone with any information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 985-652-9513.