Police: LaPlace teen booked for rape, armed robberies
Published 5:07 pm Wednesday, January 24, 2018
LAPLACE — A LaPlace teenager is facing rape and armed robbery charges, police said, the result of terrorizing behavior that took place over an hour Monday night.
The juvenile, identified as a 16-year-old male, whose name is not being released, was booked Tuesday with first degree rape, possession of a stolen firearm and two counts of armed robbery with a firearm. The suspect was transferred to the Terrebonne Juvenile Detention Center.
Police said the juvenile suspect also was arrested in October in connection to a LaPlace home robbery and charged at the time with two counts of theft of a firearm.
On Monday at 8:55 p.m., deputies responded to the1500 block of Cartier Drive in LaPlace in reference to an armed robbery. Upon arrival, officers learned a male subject wearing a black hoodie and grey skinny jeans approached the 21-year-old female as she was sitting in a vehicle in her garage.
As the automatic garage door was closing, the subject quickly walked under the door before it closed and opened the vehicle door, pointed a handgun to her head and demanded money.
The victim told officers the gunman grabbed her arm but she resisted and was able to press the garage door remote button on the vehicle’s sun visor. As the garage door began to rise, the assailant exited and fled the scene on foot towards a rear yard of another residence on Cartier Drive, over a fence, to Meeker Loop and South Sugar Ridge.
At 9:26 p.m. officers responded to an armed robbery in the 1400 block of Meeker Loop in LaPlace, where they learned a male wearing a black jacket and grey “skinny” jeans approached the 64-year-old female as she was parked in her driveway, exiting her vehicle.
The man pointed a gun at her and demanded her wallet. He then forced the victim back into the vehicle, where he sexually assaulted her, police said. The assailant stole a computer tablet and cell phone, then fled on foot.
Through investigation, officers developed a 16-year-old juvenile as a suspect and arrested him Tuesday.
During a search of his residence, police said they discovered the firearm used during the robberies, which was reported stolen in 2012 in St. John Parish. The computer tablet also was recovered.