LaPlace teen killed in drug deal gone bad, sheriff says
Published 12:10 am Saturday, February 11, 2017
LAPLACE — There are no rules in drug dealing.
It’s a mantra shared by law enforcement locally and all over, one that can be used in explanation of St. John the Baptist Parish’s most recent drug-related tragedy.
Leslie J. Hollingsworth
“We have a very dark history in St. John Parish,” Sheriff Mike Tregre said this week. “The homicides we have worked over the years, the majority of them are drug-related.”
Tregre was speaking Thursday when he made those comments, just hours after his department officially charged a New Orleans man with second degree murder and less than a day after a LaPlace teenager was killed for what Tregre said was barely an ounce of marijuana.
In an official release from the Sheriff’s Office, Tregre said, “we need to make everyone aware of what we are dealing with and what is going on out here so they can better watch their children and loved ones.”
The parish’s latest victim is 19-year-old Alton Robinson.
According to Tregre, investigators believe Robinson and Leslie J. Hollingsworth, 40, of New Orleans engaged in an illegal marijuana sale Wednesday for “a little over an ounce of marijuana” in the 2300 block of Hebert Drive in LaPlace.
Robinson, identified by authorities as the seller, is believed to have snatched approximately $200 from Hollingsworth before trying to flee the scene on foot.
“The buyer caught up with him and they got into a fight,” Tregre said, adding a knife was produced during the altercation, leading to Robinson’s fatal stabbing in the neck and a serious gash on the hand of Hollingsworth.
Authorities have not said who the knife belonged to.
Officers and emergency services attempted to render medical aid to Robinson, but he was unresponsive and later pronounced dead at the scene by the coroner’s office.
Tregre said Hollingsworth was apprehended Wednesday during a traffic stop after getting spotted “speeding out of the subdivision.”
Hollingsworth sustained multiple stab wounds to his body and was taken to a New Orleans-area hospital, where he was treated and released.
He was booked Thursday for second degree murder and is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond.
