By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LUTCHER — St. James Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrested a second man Tuesday involved in the alleged theft of 166 pounds of crawfish from a seafood shop in Lutcher earlier this month.

Charles Justin Beasley, 26, of Gramercy, was booked with criminal damage to property and theft of crawfish, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Beasley is being held at the St. James Detention Center in Convent on a $26,000 bond, according to inmate records.

Deputies said the crawfish were reported missing on the morning of April 13 from a locked outside walk-in cooler at Miko’s Seafood, 1197 Lutcher Ave. A padlock on the cooler was cut, and the crawfish, valued at more than $500, were missing. The crawfish were not recovered.

Jared Anthony Chauvin, 24, of Lutcher, was arrested April 16 in the theft, deputies said. He has since bonded out of jail.

St. James Sheriff Willy Martin Jr. said Thursday that the case, albeit simple, has garnered quite a bit of attention.

“I got a call the other day from a news outlet in Atlanta who wanted some info on the story,” Martin said. “A gentleman who used to live out here wanted it so that he could prove to some of his colleagues how serious we take our crawfish.”  

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.