By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John arrested a LaPlace man after he and an unidentified man were allegedly caught in the act of burglarizing a home.

Kewain Tripps, 18, of 156 Phoenix Lane, was apprehended Wednesday night by deputies responding to a report of a burglary in the 500 block of West Fifth Street in LaPlace, said Capt. Dane Clement, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. Clement said a witness called police around 6:51 p.m. to report the break-in.

The caller told authorities that two men dressed in black and wearing black hats had forced their way into a residence on the block, said Clement. When deputies arrived on the scene, they saw two men who matched the description leaving out of the front door of the house. Both men tried to flee the scene, and one was able to get away.

Clement said the other man, who was later identified as Tripps, was taken into custody after a brief struggle with deputies. At the time of his arrest, Tripps was in possession of two cell phones, a watch and two baseball caps that were identified as the homeowner’s belongings. Clement said no one was home at the time of the burglary, and neither of the two alleged burglars were armed with weapons.

Tripps was booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on charges of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, simple criminal damage to property, resisting arrest and resisting an officer by violence. He is being held on a $49,750 bond.

Authorities are still searching for Tripp’s accomplice. Anyone with information that may identify the second suspect should call Det. Walter Stevens at 985-652-9513.