By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LUTCHER – Authorities in St. James Parish arrested a Lutcher man Monday who is accused of swiping 166 pounds of crawfish from a seafood store.

Anthony Chauvin, 24, of 1377 Third St., was booked with single counts of theft of crawfish and criminal damage to property, according to a release from the St. James Sheriff’s Office. As of Thursday, Chauvin remains at the St. James Detention Center in Convent on a $6,000 bond.

Deputies said the crawfish were reported missing at 5:15 a.m. last Friday from an outside walk-in cooler at Miko’s Seafood, located at 1197 Lutcher Ave. The cooler was locked prior to the incident.

Maj. Sid Berthelot, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said a padlock on the cooler was cut and the crawfish, valued at more than $500, were missing. No crawfish were recovered in the theft, and it is not clear what Chauvin planned to do with the mudbugs.

According to Louisiana law, theft of crawfish from $500 to less than $1,500 is a felony that could amount to a five-year prison sentence and a $2,000 fine.