LAPLACE — A local man who police say they have arrested more 70 times in 14 years is behind bars again, charged with stealing a car and assault on a pregnant woman, authorities said.

Todd Joseph, 31, of LaPlace was arrested Monday morning following his latest run-ins with the law, a release from St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said.

Deputies said a 23-year-old female complainant told them she and her 1-year-old daughter were with Joseph in his car Sept. 9. She identified Joseph as her boyfriend of two years.

“She and Joseph began to argue,” Tregre said. “Joseph exited the car from the driver’s seat, walked to the passenger door and grabbed the victim by her arms.

He pulled her from the car to the ground. The victim is eight months pregnant with twins. Joseph then fled in the car.”

In a separate case, a 31-year-old female complainant told deputies Joseph helped her pay to get her vehicle out of the repair shop Sept. 7.

“Joseph returned to her home and asked her to pay him back the money that he paid to get her car out the repair shop,” Tregre said, adding the victim had not agreed to pay him back.

“Joseph yelled at the victim to get in the car, and he drove them to the bank so she could get money to pay him.”

The woman called the Sheriff’s Office for help from inside the bank. Police said Joseph drove off with the victim’s car without permission before deputies arrived. Joseph is charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and domestic abuse battery of a pregnant female with child endangerment.

He remains in custody in lieu of a $27,500 bond and a parole detainer.

A release from the Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrested Joseph more than 70 times since August 2002.

Burglary arrest

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a security alarm alert for a house in the 100 block of NW 1st Street in Reserve at 12:16 a.m. Sunday, arriving to hear a noise coming from the home’s interior.

A deputy on the scene saw a man exiting the house, but the perpetrator reentered the house upon seeing the deputy and slammed the door, Tregre said, before exiting again and eluding arrest.

Over the course of the investigation, deputies identified the suspect as Calvin Johnson, 54, who lived just down the street from the burglarized house, according to Tregre.

“When deputies made contact with Johnson at his residence, they saw he was sweating heavily and bleeding from a scratch on his arm,” Tregre said.

Johnson was arrested for simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, resisting an officer and parole violation. He remains in custody in lieu of a $15,500 bond and a parole detainer.