By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE — The third man involved in an armed robbery of a St. Rose distribution warehouse back in May was apprehended late last week, according to a release from the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office.

Eddie L. Matthews, 50, 2438 Erato St., New Orleans, was arrested for his involvement in the May 9 heist in which thousands of dollars worth of prescription drugs were taken from a warehouse in the James Business Park in St. Rose, said Capt. Pat Yoes, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. Yoes said Matthews was arrested on a warrant Wednesday morning, just two days after his accomplices in the robbery were arrested.

Matthews allegedly assisted Randon Q. Robinson, 26, 1911 Bayou Road, New Orleans, and Dathennile Parker, 38, 1905 Bayou Road, New Orleans, in stealing storage bins loaded with drugs from the warehouse. The men, who were all dressed in black and armed with guns, loaded the drugs onto a box truck, which was pulled up to one of the warehouse’s loading docks, Yoes said. The men then locked the employees of the warehouse inside a trailer on the site.

Yoes said Matthews was booked into the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Killona on two counts of armed robbery. No information on bond amount was available at press time Tuesday. Yoes said authorities with the New Orleans Police Department and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted St. Charles in tracking down Matthews and the two other men.

Yoes said that no drugs have been recovered and investigators are seeking information about anyone who may have tipped the thieves off about the presence of drugs at the warehouse facility. Anyone who has any information about the incident should contact the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office at 985-783-1195, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-903-STOP Informants do not need to give their name and could be eligible for a $2,500 reward.