Jan 29, 2010 - It was perhaps the biggest story in the New Orleans area for several days in December, sparking indignation by the public who wondered: How can someone be so low as to break into a St. Bernard Parish church, then unwrap and steal 65 Christmas presents collected for the needy of the area?

But a group of sheriff’s detectives investigated and solved the case within days, making an arrest early on Dec. 23 and recovering and returning the gifts to Our Lady of Lourdes Church, which also had received numerous other donations from a public that wanted to make it a bright Christmas for the needy.

For their efforts, the detectives, supervisor Capt. Mark Jackson, Lt. Richard “Rick’’ Mendel and Sgt. Donald “DJ” Johnson received awards from the Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard/Arabi on Tuesday, Jan. 26, which gave them its Life Saver Award.

The honor is “in recognition of courageous service to our community,’’ said Chalmette businessman and club President Sam Catalanotto.
“The Kiwanis Club didn’t envision this award as being for life-saving heroics, but as an award in recognition of the everyday heroic efforts of our deputies and firefighters in St. Bernard Parish,’’ Catalanotto said at a luncheon honoring the officers. “They are the first ones in the door, or the first ones on the scene, always willing to put their lives on the line so the community of St. Bernard continues to be safe.’’

The Life Saver award was suggested by Catalanotto in the late 1990s as a means to honor sheriff’s deputies and parish firefighters. “It’s meant to say ‘thank you,’’ he said. Catalanotto said any business interested in joining with the Kiwanis in this worthwhile project or anyone interested in learning more about joining the Kiwanis service organization can call him at (504) 296-9501 or Robbie Showalter at (504) 279-8544.

The detective group solved the Dec. 20 church burglary at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Violet. Because of the publicity the crime received in the media, the people of the New Orleans area responded by opening their hearts and wallets to the church, donating a bonanza of presents that made it a much better Christmas for the needy than anyone could have imagined, Catalanotto said.

Jackson, Mendel and Johnson said they appreciated being recognized by the Kiwanis Club and accepted the award on behalf of the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office. Their chief of detectives, Col. John Doran, also attended the luncheon.

Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said the department is grateful to the club for thinking about the work of first-responders. “They don’t always get the recognition they deserve, so this is appreciated,’’ Pohlmann said. Also, he said the church burglary was a high-profile crime that demanded detectives stick with it until resolved. “They worked it and worked it’’ and got results, turning a bad thing into a happy ending for the church and the needy people that were helped, Pohlmann said.

 Det. Capt. Mark Jackson, a 19-year employee of the Sheriff’s Office, is a veteran supervisor in the sheriff’s Detective Bureau. He was named officer of the year in 1995 and 2002, spent a year in Iraq training upwards of 500 Iraqi police officers through a program of the U.S. State Department and in 2009 was graduated from the prestigious FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va.
Jackson became a detective after working in the sheriff’s patrol division.
Det. Lt. Richard “Rick’’ Mendel is a 23-year veteran of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, having worked in numerous departments. He has served as a corrections officer, moving up to Assistant Warden of the St. Bernard Parish Prison.
Mendel also has been an instructor in the sheriff’s D.A.R.E. anti-drug and violence program in St. Bernard schools, as a detective in the sheriff’s Juvenile Division and now is in the Criminal Investigations Bureau.
Det. Sgt. Donald “DJ’’ Johnson has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 2001 and also has worked in several departments. Johnson started as a corrections officer, advanced to become a patrol officer and has been assigned as a detective in the Criminal Investigations Bureau since 2007.
Jackson, Mendel and Johnson are also members of the sheriff’s SWAT team.
 

Jan 28, 2010 - A man has been arrested in Shreveport in the aggravated rape of a St. Bernard Parish juvenile girl that happened in 1998, in a case in which a warrant for his arrest was issued a month ago after a woman now in her early 20s came forward because, she said, the man had been trying to reach her through a social networking site.

St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said John Jason Wallace, 40, who had most recently been living in the Shreveport area, was arrested there on Jan. 21 on charges of obscenity and trespassing and will also be held on the arrest warrant from St. Bernard Parish.

It isn’t known when Wallace will be released to St. Bernard authorities to be returned on the aggravated rape charge, Pohlmann said.

A St. Bernard judge signed the warrant of arrest following an investigation by sheriff’s detectives, including seeing emails sent by the man to the woman’s social networking site in which Wallace wanted to re-connect with her, Pohlmann said.

The woman, who still lives in St. Bernard Parish, said she was sexually abused by Wallace numerous times when she was 10 years old and he was living in the parish, Pohlmann said.

Wallace, has previously served time in prison and is on probation for theft over $20,000.

Maj. Darlene Poche, head of the sheriff’s Juvenile Division which  investigated the case once the woman came forward at the end of last year, said the victim was scared by Wallace’s attempts to reach out to her through her social networking site.

Stephen Bond

Jan 27, 2010 - Based on dental records, skeletal remains discovered on one of the Chandeleur Islands in St. Bernard Parish waters on Jan. 22 has been identified as missing Ocean Springs, Ms., police officer Stephen Bond, St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Bond, 32, had been missing since May 17 of last year, when the 21-foot SeaCraft he was aboard overturned in Dog Keys Pass during a storm about a mile from Horn Island off Mississippi, according to authorities in that state.

Bond and four others were thrown into the Mississippi Sound when their boat toppled and all except Bond were rescued after 24 hours of floating in the Gulf of Mexico, about 15 miles from where the boat capsized.

A fisherman reported the discovery of the skeletal remains to the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday, Jan. 22, but the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office handled the investigation because the remains were within St. Bernard Parish waters. The remains apparently had been on the island for a some time and no clothing or any form of identification were found, Pohlmann said.

The remains were recovered Saturday, Jan. 23, by a St. Bernard sheriff’s detective and officers from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on an island in the Chandeleur Islands chain in St. Bernard waters, Pohlmann said. They were taken Monday, Jan. 25, to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office to work on identification and possible cause of death.

Several law enforcement agencies with outstanding cases of missing boaters or hunters, including Ocean Springs, contacted St. Bernard sheriff’s detectives about the skeletal remains, Pohlmann said.

He said dental records were supplied for missing officer Stephen Bond and a match was determined based on teeth recovered in the skull.

There weren’t any obvious signs of trauma to the skull, Pohlmann said, but further testing may be done to try to determine more information. 

See earlier press release dated Jan 23, 2010.

Jan 26, 2010 - State Police Troop B is investigating the hit-and-run death of a St. Bernard Parish woman who was struck and killed on Bayou Road in eastern St. Bernard on Monday night, Jan. 25, by an unidentified driver while she was walking in the road.

Troop B is urging anyone in the community with knowledge of the hit- and-run crash to call State Police at 504-471-2775. Senior Trooper Volante is investigating the crash.

Preliminary investigation indicates a pedestrian identified as Heather Fike, 37, of St. Bernard Parish, was struck by an unknown vehicle while walking in the road. The vehicle then fled and Fike, while lying in the road, was struck a second time by a 2005 Honda Pilot driven by Kristine Oltmann, 19, of Chalmette, State Police said.

Fike was pronounced dead on the scene. Troopers believe Fike was impaired at the time of the crash; autopsy and toxicology results are pending. Impairment is not suspected for Oltmann.

This is the third hit-and-run fatality involving a pedestrian that Troop B is investigating since the beginning of the New Year. State Police are urging anyone with information on any of the incidents to call State Police or your local law enforcement agency, which in St. Bernard Parish is the Sheriff’s Office at 271-2501 or Crimestoppers at 822-1111.

Jan 23, 2010 - A Violet man wanted on an arrest warrant charging distribution of cocaine was found hiding in a house trailer with 45 rocks of crack cocaine worth $900, Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

Timmery Barthelemy, 30, whose last address was 2808 Daniel Drive, was wanted on a warrant for cocaine distribution and when officers looked for him in December he relayed a message that he would surrender, the sheriff said.

Instead, he remained at-large until Jan. 15 when agents from the Sheriff’s Special Investigations Division, commanded by Col. Chad Clark, learned Barthelemy was at a trailer on Highland Drive in Violet.

Renade Duplessis, 22, 2321 Highland Drive, identified as Barthelemy’s girlfriend, attempted to prevent officers from coming into her residence but when they went in they found Barthelemy hiding in a closet and was arrested, the sheriff said.

When agents later obtained a search warrant for the trailer based on information that drugs were being sold there by Barthelemy, 45 rocks of crack cocaine, packaged in individually wrapped plastic bags worth a total of $900, were found, Sheriff Stephens said.

Barthelemy was booked on the original charge of crack distribution and both he and Duplessis were booked with the additional charge of possession with intent to distribute the 45 rocks of cocaine, which weighed a total of six grams, the sheriff said.

Barthelemy is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $60,000 bond and Duplessis has been released on bond, but no information was available on the amount.

Jan 23, 2010 - St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s officials are investigating the discovery of skeleton remains of an unidentified man recovered Saturday, Jan. 23, on an island in the Chandeleur Islands chain in St. Bernard waters, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

The cause of death is unknown but the remains apparently had been on the island for a long period of time. No clothing or any form of identification were found, Pohlmann said. The remains will be taken to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, he said.

There weren’t any obvious signs of trauma to the skull, Pohlmann said. Teeth that were recovered might help identify the man, he said.

There aren’t any reports of missing boaters or hunters in St. Bernard, he said, but the Sheriff’s Office will contact other law enforcement jurisdictions in surrounding areas.

A sport fisherman reported the discovery to the Coast Guard on Friday, Jan. 22, but the investigation is being handled by the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office because the remains were within St. Bernard Parish, Pohlmann said. The remains were on the north side of the Chandeleur Islands chain, several hours away by boat, and closest to land in Mississippi.

St. Bernard Sheriff’s Det. Lt. Raymond Theriot went to the scene to recover the remains on Saturday, Jan. 23, Pohlmann said, with two officers from the state Wildlife and Fisheries Department, Senior Agent Robert Cosse and Sgt. Scott Keller, in a boat supplied by the state agency.

Jan 22, 2010 - St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s detectives have arrested a woman employee of a café and three male teen-agers including her nephew in a faked robbery of the eatery the night of Jan. 18 for the purpose of stealing money, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

The woman, Tammy Dalon, 38, who worked at Riche Café on East St. Bernard Highway in the Poydras area; her nephew, Dylan Dalong, 17, and his friends, Joshua Cassar, 17 and a 16-year-old whose name wasn’t released because he is a minor, were all booked with felony theft on Friday, Jan. 22. The adults went to St. Bernard Parish Prison and the youngest to the parish Juvenile Detention Center.

All admitted their involvement under questioning by sheriff’s detectives commanded by Chief of Detectives Col. John Doran, Pohlmann said. Their stories differed on who profited: the woman claimed she received no money and allowed her nephew and friends to take cash because the nephew needed money, while the teens say it was her idea and she received the majority of the cash while they got little.
Pohlmann said Dylan Dalon got his two friends to enter the café, wearing masks but not carrying guns, to receive the money from the eatery.

““We don’t get many armed robberies in St. Bernard Parish and in this case we were able to solve one that was faked,’’ Pohlmann said.

“Our detectives early on were suspicious of the employee’s claim of two masked men robbing her after implying they had guns,’’ Pohlmann said, pointing out the owner had left for the night earlier than usual, there wasn’t any witnesses to a robbery and no real description of a getaway vehicle.

On Thursday night, Jan. 21, Crimestoppers received a tip that gave the name of two of the teen-agers involved and passed it on to the Sheriff’s Office, Pohlmann said. “It confirmed what we had believed, supplied names and gave us something to go on.”

Under questioning the teens admitted involvement and implicated the employee, who later also admitted involvement.

“We have had a good relationship with Crimestoppers and thank them for the help they give the Sheriff’s Office in the mutual goal of suppressing crime,’’ Pohlmann said.

He said the report of the robbery at Riche Café, at about 7 p.m., was the first of two incidents that happened within a short distance of each other on the same night, which in itself seemed suspicious, Pohlmann said.

In the second case, about 2:45 a.m. on Jan. 19, two masked men carrying handguns held up Nicosia’s Express Lane store at 101 Bayou Road, within blocks of the restaurant.

A camera system showed one man wearing an unusual camouflage outfit that may be a jump suit, while the other is in black, Pohlmann said. Also, he said one man wore a distinctive LSU knit cap.

Sheriff’s detectives are investigating whether the two incidents are related, Pohlmann said, but Dalon and the teen-agers have denied involvement in the second one.

Anyone with information about the men in the armed robbery should call the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 and they could be eligible for a reward.
 

Jan 22, 2010 - An autopsy was inconclusive on the cause of death of an unidentified fully-clothed man, possibly in his 30s, discovered in an Arabi drainage canal near West Judge Perez Drive on Thursday, Jan. 21, (see SBSO press release dated Jan 21, 2010) but there wasn’t any sign of trauma to the body and toxicology tests could shed more light, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

“This remains an unclassified death,’’ Pohlmann said, noting autopsy results were inconclusive on whether the man drowned and said efforts to identify him are ongoing. The man had neither an I.D. nor money on him. Toxicology tests could take weeks for the results to be available.

The victim, spotted about 10 a.m. by someone who was near the drainage canal that crosses West Judge Perez Drive near Schnell Drive in Arabi, appeared to have been in the water only a day or two, Pohlmann said.

St. Bernard sheriff’s detectives have been trying to identify the man, showing his photo at businesses in the area and places catering to Hispanic workers, Pohlmann said. No one reported knowing him and attempts to fingerprint the body to determine identity have had negative results, Pohlmann said.

The man, whose body bore no obvious signs of violence at the scene, didn’t have any revealed during the autopsy conducted by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office.

Jan 21, 2010 - The body of a fully-clothed man possibly in his 30s was discovered in an Arabi drainage canal near West Judge Perez Drive on Thursday, Jan. 21, and while there wasn’t any sign of trauma an autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of the death of the man, who didn’t have any form of identification or any money on him, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

“This is an unclassified death’’ and may or may not involve a crime,’’ Pohlmann said, noting autopsy results could be available on Friday, Jan. 22, and would probably indicate whether the victim drowned or died in another manner.

Pohlmann, speaking at the scene where the drainage canal crosses West Judge Perez Drive near Schnell Drive in Arabi - about a half-mile from the parish line – said the victim appeared to have been in the water only a day or two.

St. Bernard sheriff’s detectives have been trying to identify the man, showing his photo at businesses in the area and places catering to Hispanic workers, Pohlmann said. No one reported knowing him.

Attempts will also be made to fingerprint the body to determine identity, Pohlmann said.

Someone washing their vehicle at a car wash next to the drainage canal reported seeing what appeared to be a body about 10 a.m., Pohlmann said.

The man, whose body bore no obvious signs of violence, was taken from the water with the assistance of the parish Fire Department and pronounced dead by Coroner Dr. Bryan Bertucci. He will be autopsied by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office for St. Bernard.

Jan 20, 2010 - St. Bernard Parish authorities are trying to identify masked robbers in two incidents that happened within a short distance of each other on the same night, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

In one case two men implied they had a weapon and in the other both carried handguns, Pohlmann said. No one was injured in the incidents, which happened just before 7 p.m. on Monday night, Jan. 18 and about 2:45 a.m. the next morning, he said.

Both robberies, in which the men are masked in each, were in eastern St. Bernard Parish near the junction to the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish.

The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t released the location of the earlier robbery, while the second - in which a surveillance system recorded two masked men holding guns and forcing an employee to open a cash register – was at 101 Bayou Road at Nicosia’s Express Lane.

The camera system showed one man wearing an unusual camouflage outfit that may be a jump suit, while the other is in black, Pohlmann said. Also, he said one man wore a distinctive LSU knit cap (see above photo).

Anyone wsith information about the men should call the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 and they could be eligible for a reward.

Jan 19, 2010 - An Algiers woman wanted in an $8,000 cigarette heist in St. Bernard Parish’ has been arrested by State Police in New Orleans and could be transferred soon to St. Bernard Parish to be booked with felony theft, St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Audrealla Thomas, 27, whom police said had a street name of “Sizzlin,’’ was arrested on Saturday, Jan. 16, Pohlmann said. No details about the arrest were disclosed by State Police.

Thomas is arrested in connection with the Dec. 5 theft of nearly 200 cartons of premium cigarettes and a case of premium whiskey, worth about $8,000, from a storage area of a convenience store/gasoline station in Meraux in St. Bernard Parish.

Two men and a woman were seen on a store surveillance tape and after it was shown on local television authorities received a tip that one of the men was Kevin Ventry, 41, a figure in the early rap music industry in New Orleans in the early 1990s, who used the stage name T.T. Tucker.

Ventry was arrested Dec. 13 in a joint effort by St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s detectives and New Orleans police. Ventry is being held in jail in New Orleans, where he was also wanted on a $10,000 burglary of cigarettes and a cigarette theft involving 30 cartons. He is also a suspect in similar crimes in St. Tammany Parish and other areas.

A second man identified in the heist is John Glenn Tillman, 56, also of Algiers, who remains at-large, also wanted for felony theft and is also suspected of taking part in other cigarettes thefts with Ventry, Pohlmann said.

Thomas was at first known to authorities only as “Sizzlin,’’ but was later identified by her actual name.

A tip through Crimestoppers led authorities to the identity of Thomas, who has served time in prison in Texas, Pohlmann said.

Jan 16, 2010 - A warrant for the arrest of a man for aggravated rape of a juvenile girl has been issued after a St. Bernard Parish woman now in her early 20s came forward, some 11 years after the alleged acts, saying the man has been trying to re-connect with her through a social networking site.

St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said a warrant for the arrest of John Jason Wallace, 40, who had most recently been living in Shreveport, was signed by a judge following an investigation by sheriff’s detectives, including seeing emails sent to the woman’s social networking site.

The woman said she was sexually abused by Wallace numerous times when she was 10 years old, Pohlmann said.

Wallace, who has spent time in prison and is on probation for theft over $20,000, has left the area where he had been living in Shreveport and is wanted there as a probation violator, Pohlmann said.

Maj. Darlene Poche, head of the sheriff’s Juvenile Division which has been investigating the case since the woman came forward at the end of last year, said the victim was scared by Wallace’s attempts to reach out to her through her social networking site. “We are concerned with this guy e-mailing her,’’ Poche said.

Anyone with information on Wallace’s whereabouts should call the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501 or Crimestoppers at 822-1111.

Jan 16, 2010 - An employee of a Chalmette dentist and five of her family members and friends have been arrested after the dentist reported finding unauthorized prescriptions for pain pills had been written using his office computer system, St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s officials said.

The employee, Tiffany Holmes, 20, 2000 Victor St., Apt. C, Chalmette, booked with eight counts of obtaining controlled dangerous substances by fraud and deceit, admitted after her arrest that she wrote unauthorized prescriptions for herself and others.

Unauthorized prescriptions for a total of 160 pills of hydrocodone were written over the last several months, authorities said.

Holmes was booked Jan. 5 and since then five others, including her father, a brother, the father’s girlfriend and two friends have been arrested, all for obtaining controlled substances by fraud and deceit.
Others may also been arrested. Holmes has been released on bond but information wasn’t available on the amount.

St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said the dentist who reported finding the unauthorized prescriptions in his computer system deserves thanks for being on the lookout for illegal distribution of controlled drugs.

Agents of the sheriff’s Special Investigations Division, commanded by Col. Chad Clark, made the arrests.

Others arrested as well as Holmes includes her father, Frank Roberts, 44 of Chalmette; her brother, Gino Holmes, 22, of Meraux; a friend of the father, Rebecca Snyder, 51, of Chalmette; and two of Holmes’ friends, Allen Campo, 23, and his brother, Adam Campo, 21, both of Chalmette.

Jan 15, 2010 - The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Bomb Squad recently participated in a workshop promoting explosives awareness held by the Port of South Louisiana at the St. James Sheriff’s Office range/training facility. The one-day event included participants representing 23 agencies and organizations from throughout Southeast Louisiana.

Participants included, front row from left, Lester Millet III, Ira Jones, and Eric Acosta; and back row, Patrick Solomon, Billy Booth, Michael Sawyer, Capt. Karl Melancon, Jason Esslinger and the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Bomb Squad composed of Maj. John Vickers, Capt. Daniel Doucet, and Sgt. Chris Scheeler.

Jan 14, 2010 - Several types of drugs were seized in three recent arrests, including four cultivated marijuana plants, five pieces of crack cocaine, two tablets of Ecstasy and 1.5 ounces of marijuana, Sheriff Jack Stephens said. Four men were jailed.

The arrests were made by agents of the sheriff’s Special Investigations Division, commanded by Col. Chad Clark.

Albert Avenel III, 22, was booked Jan. 11 with cultivation of marijuana after four plants, with a possible street value of $2,000 each, were found after a relative of Avenel consented to a search of his home at 1241 Bayou Road in eastern St. Bernard Parish.

Avenel admitted the plants were his. He was booked into St. Bernard Parish prison. No bond information was available.

Also, on Jan. 13, Jonathan Denton, 19, 3505 Campagna Drive, Chalmette, was booked with attempted distribution of five pieces of crack cocaine with a street value of $150, Stephens said.

As agents approached Denton in the 400 block of Dubarry Street in Chalmette, Denton threw down five individually wrapped clear bags containing an off-white rock substance and attempted to flee but was stopped. No bond information was available.

Also, nearly 1.5 ounces of marijuana were seized and two Chalmette men were arrested Jan. 5.

Jacob Hobby, 20, 2400 Volpe Drive, and James Kelly, 26, 2312 Stander Place, were stopped for a traffic offense in Chalmette. Hobby consented to a search of his vehicle and nearly an ounce of marijuana was found.

He and Kelly were booked with possession with intent to distribute the marijuana.  Hobby also acknowledged he had more marijuana at his home, as well as two tablets of Ecstasy, worth $50 and a pipe. All three items were found there, the sheriff said, and Hobby was then also booked with possession of the Ecstasy and possession of drug paraphernalia. No bond information was available.

Jan 13, 2010 - Two St. Bernard men were booked with robbing and beating an older man they were drinking with at a mutual friend’s home, taking his wallet and forcing him to give the PIN number for his debit card which they used to buy items at a gas station/store, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

He said the 60-year-old victim was beaten by the men, both in their 20s, until he gave them the PIN number for his debit card and he pretended he passed out, at which time they left. Pohlmann said the man called the Sheriff’s Office and deputies learned the attackers later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw money from a bank ATM, then used the victim’s debit card for more than $100 in purchases at a Chalmette gas station.

They were arrested in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Jan. 12, outside a home in the 2900 block of Plaza Drive in Chalmette where they had beaten the victim, Pohlmann said.

Cameron Tipton, 26, 2421 Veronica Drive, Chalmette, and Ricky Peterson, 23, 3201 Bartolo Drive, Meraux, were both booked with robbery of the 60-year-old man who lived in eastern St. Bernard Parish and was visiting a woman on Plaza Drive who was a mutual friend of Tipton and Peterson. They were both also booked with five counts of unauthorized use of an access card and Tipton was booked with two counts of forgery for signing debit card receipts in the gas station where alcohol drinks and other items were purchased.

Both men are being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of bonds; Tipton’s bond was set at $40,000 and Peterson’s at $32,500.

Pohlmann said the three men and the woman, who wasn’t implicated, were drinking at the woman’s house and while she left the room to take a shower the younger men began demanding money from the older man and eventually began striking him with their fists, knocking him to the ground, the victim later told investigating sheriff’s deputies. He said they removed his wallet and kicked and beat him until he gave the PIN number of his debit card found in the wallet.

He pretended he was unconscious and the men left, said the victim, adding his cell phone was broken in the beaten so he ran several blocks to an open gas station on Paris Road and called the Sheriff’s Office to report the robbery, Pohlmann said.

Sheriff’s deputies checked the ATM at the Chalmette bank where the debit card was issued and several receipts showing failed attempts to withdraw money from the victim’s account were on the ground.

Other deputies had gone back to the home on Plaza Drive where the women lives and Tipton was found outside on the lawn and Peterson was found nearby, hiding behind an abandoned house, Pohlmann said.

Under questioning, the men acknowledged the robbery and said they used the debit card at a separate gas station on Paris Road, where an employee produced receipts for the purchases they made, Pohlmann said.

Jan 12, 2010 - A 70-year woman who fled St. Bernard Parish two years ago after allegedly defrauding a man of $25,000 paid to repair his business damaged in Hurricane Katrina was arrested near Houston recently and was brought back to St. Bernard Parish Prison on Monday night, Jan. 11, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Antoinette C. Vryniotis of Chalmette, wanted on a charge of theft by fraud in a 2-year-old contractor fraud case, had been arrested by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office near Houston after a task force from the Louisiana Attorney’s General’s Office traced her to that area, Pohlmann said. She had family in the Houston area.

Vryniotis was paid by a St. Bernard business owner about $45,000 to repair a storm-damaged building but disappeared after completing about $20,000 in renovations, according to a warrant for her arrest signed by a St. Bernard judge in January 2008. Two officers from the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, Det. Lt. Raymond Theriot and Lt. Shannon Desroche, traveled to Houston to bring back Vryniotis.

Numerous St. Bernard Parish residents anxious to get back into their homes after Hurricane Katrina were defrauded by unscrupulous people often just posing as contractors, who then fled with money they were paid, Pohlmann said.

“The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t forgotten these cases and we are still interested in bringing these criminals to justice,’’ Pohlmann said. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of someone wanted for contractor fraud should call the Sheriff’s Office at 504-271-2501.

Jan 10, 2010 - St. Bernard Parish residents interested in understanding more about law enforcement and what police work entails in the parish are asked to register for the new 8-week Citizens’ Police Academy free sessions which begin Feb. 24 at Nunez Community College, Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

There are numerous features to the program, including receiving boating safety tips, touring the Parish Prison and experiencing a firearms simulator that allows residents to put themselves in the place of a deputy and decide whether they use a weapon on a criminal suspect.

Pohlmann said, “This will answer a lot of the questions you have had about law enforcement and why things are done they way they are.’’  Graduates, he said, become “ambassadors for law enforcement because it gives them a vested interest in what happens in St. Bernard.’’

To register, residents should call Capt. Charles Borchers, head of Crime Prevention for the Sheriff’s Office, at (504) 278-7628.

The classes, which will feature speakers from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are geared to fostering good relations between the community and law enforcement.

More than 450 people in St. Bernard are graduates of Citizens Police Academy since it began in 1999.

This is the third class since Hurricane Katrina and more than 75 people graduated those two sessions, said Borchers. “It’s been a great success since we started back,’’ Borchers said.

The class includes information on diverse topics such as most aspects of law enforcement, hands-on use of equipment including a firearms simulator that allows citizens to decide whether they would use a weapon in certain situations, as well as a SWAT Team equipment demonstration, a tour of the parish prison and boating safety tips from the sheriff’s Marine Division.
 

Jan 8, 2010 - The number of murders declined sharply in St. Bernard Parish in 2009 and Chief Deputy Sheriff James Pohlmann said the department is continuing its joint effort with Chalmette’s Battered Women’s Shelter try to reduce domestic violence.

Also, Pohlmann said, the Sheriff’s Office continues to emphasize suppressing street sales of illegal drugs, through efforts carried out by the Special Investigations Division and the Patrol Division, which helps prevent turf wars that lead to killings. “I believe the work our officers do is the reason we don’t see the level of violent crime here you see elsewhere,’’ Pohlmann said. More than 1,000 drug-related arrests were made in 2009 in St. Bernard.

Pohlmann said there was one murder in St. Bernard Parish in 2009, compared to six in the previous year. The year’s sole murder happened last January when a Violet man shot to death his teen-age step-daughter and wounded his wife. The man is awaiting trial.

In 2008 there were six killings, Pohlmann said. Two were domestic-related including a murder/suicide; one was probably drug-related although the man killed apparently wasn’t the intended victim; two involved a man who shot to death two men in an argument outside a bar; and the other was the killing of an elderly Arabi man outside his home, the lone one that hasn’t been solved.

Domestic-related arguments often lead to violent acts, Pohlmann said.

“Although domestic-related murders are difficult to prevent our department has taken steps to try to help victims remove themselves from situations so that further incidents, perhaps increasingly violent, don’t occur, said Pohlmann, second in command to Sheriff Jack Stephens.

“We are concerned about domestic violence. That’s why we took the steps we have taken because we have a commitment to do something about these problems,’’ Pohlmann said.

Under a joint effort with the Battered Women’s Shelter of Chalmette, sheriff’s deputies responding to calls of domestic disturbances have begun making people aware of the services offered by the Battered Women’s Shelter, which provides both in-residence help including a place to stay and non-residence aid such as counseling or help in obtaining a restraining order in cases where people need to extract themselves from abusive relationships.

Also, through a grant, the Sheriff’s Office has created a position of a full-time officer to handle follow-up investigations of domestic violence cases including keeping victims up to date on prosecution of their cases and the Battered Women’s Shelter has received grants to add a counselor, a legal advocate and other workers for additional services for victims.

People seeking help can call the Battered Women’s Shelter at (504) 277-3177.