Twins charged with Boutte home invasion

Published 12:00 am Friday, November 28, 2008

By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

HAHNVILLE — Deputies in St. Charles arrested twin brothers early Monday after the two men forced their way into a Boutte man’s residence, said a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

Capt. Pat Yoes, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said the 56-year-old resident of the home was inside the house at the time of the home invasion and fired a warning shot in an attempt to drive the men out. Yoes said the single bullet grazed one of the intruders.

Yoes said Gilbert Celestine Jr., 32, and his identical twin brother Wilbert Celestine, both of 354 Magnolia Ave., Boutte, were taken into custody and booked on charges of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and simple battery. The two men are being held at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Hahnville in lieu of $75,000 bonds set Tuesday by Judge Emile St. Pierre.

According to a report on the incident, the brothers were looking for someone who may have lived at the home. The men knocked on the victim’s door and when he approached to open the door, the two men forced their way into the residence.

Yoes said the victim fired one shot from a revolver. He said the bullet grazed the lip of Gilbert Celestine Jr. Celestine was treated by emergency responders on the scene before being taken into custody.

Yoes said investigators are not sure whom the invaders were searching for in the house. He said the relationship between the brothers and the victim is also unclear. The victim was not charged in the incident.