By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

RESERVE — A pair of LaPlace men were arrested Friday morning in connection with a home invasion in Reserve, said authorities with the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

Jeremy Lee, 18, of 2801 Concordia Drive, and Danearl Brown Jr., 19, of 3012 Concordia Drive, were each booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on aggravated burglary charges following the Friday morning break-in at a home in the 100 block of East 21st Street in Reserve, said Dane Clement, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office.

According to a report on the burglary, Lee and Brown entered the home around 9:16 a.m. through an unlocked door. Once inside, the two men confronted a 33-year-old female resident with a handgun before grabbing several undisclosed items from the home. Clement said the woman was not injured during the incident. He said the two men fled the area in a black Chevrolet Impala.

A short time after the break-in, deputies spotted the getaway car on Central Avenue in Reserve and attempted to pull the vehicle over. Clement said the driver refused to stop and both men then began throwing items out the car. Authorities recovered the items, which were later identified as stolen in the burglary.

Clement said the driver was able to elude deputies before crashing the car into a ditch on Paula Drive in LaPlace. Deputies located Brown hiding under a mobile home on Paula Drive. Brown was arrested just after 10:40 a.m.

Lee was arrested about an hour later during a vehicle stop on Airline Highway. Clement said Lee, who was seen leaving Paula Drive in a truck, was on his way to turn himself in at the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division. Authorities believe Lee, who was also charged with aggravated flight from an officer, was behind the wheel of the getaway car.

Clement said both men have been cooperative with detectives investigating the incident. He said detectives found a handgun that was allegedly used in the aggravated burglary.

Both men remain in jail on bonds that were set in Edgard Monday—$25,000 for Brown and $27,000 for Lee.