By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A trio of LaPlace residents were arrested in Hancock County in Mississippi This week in connection with a LaPlace home invasion and armed robbery that occured in December.

Ronnie Turner, 23, Marquis Bailey, 27 and Patricia Kelson, 18, were picked up on judicial warrants obtained by the St. John Sheriff’s Office, said Capt. Dane Clement, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Clement said the three were involved in an early morning aggravated burglary of a home in the 8800 block of Sunnyside Drive on Dec. 16.

According to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, the victims told deputies that two men broke through the front door of the home and proceeded to a bedroom where a man and a woman were sleeping. One of the suspects, armed with a gun, fired a shot in the bedroom and threatened to kill the two in the room if they didn’t give him money.

Clement said the victims surrendered a purse and a wallet. No one was injured in the incident.

Investigators believe that Turner and Bailey were the men who entered the home, committed the burglary and then fled the scene in Kelson’s vehicle. Clement said while Turner and Bailey were inside the home, Kelson, Turner’s girlfriend, waited outside in her vehicle with her two children – a 7-month-old infant and another child under the age of 2.

Turner was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated burglary, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and other Sheriff’s Office attachments. Clement said Turner is being held on an $80,315 bond.

Bailey and Kelson were both arrested Thursday on charges of aggravated burglary and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Clement said Kelson was also charged with two counts of child endangerment. Bond was not available on either suspect.

All three are being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace.