7-27-17
FOUR BLACK MALES ARE SUSPECTED BY CROWLEY POLICE IN A THEFT AT STINE LUMBER COMPANY IN CROWLEY MONDAY NIGHT. SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SHOWS THE FOUR MEN LOADING A 54 INCH ZERO TURN HUSQVARNA MOWER WITH A KAWASAKI ENGINE, A 28 INCH FLEUR DES LIS WOOD ROCKER AND AN ASPEN FLEUR DES LIS WOOD ROCKER INTO A U HAUL TRUCK. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE ROBBERY SHOULD CALL CRIME STOPPERS AT 789-TIPS. ALL CALLERS WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS AND COULD RECEIVE UP TO A $1000 CASH REWARD.
LANDRY PARISH SHERIFF BOBBY GUIDROZ HAS ANNOUNCED THE ARREST OF BENJAMIN BAQUET FOR SHAKING AN INFANT. GUIDROZ SAID THAT ON JULY 9TH OFFICERS RESPONDED TO A MEDICAL CALL THAT AN INFANT WAS NONRESPONSIVE. THE BABY WAS TAKEN TO AN OPELOUSAS HOSPITAL AND THEN TRANSFERRED TO LAFAYETTE. THE BABY SUFFERED BLEEDING ON THE BRAIN, A RIGHT BROKEN CLAVICLE, BRUISES, RESPIRATORY ARREST, DIFFUSE CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGES AND NON ACCIDENTAL TRAUMA TO THE CHILD. THE MOTHER TOLD TWO SOCIAL WORKERS THAT BAQUET ADMITTED TO SHAKING THE BABY. BAQUET IS CHARGED WITH SECOND DEGREE CRUELTY TO A JUVENILE.
LOUISIANA STATE POLICE HAVE RELEASED THE IDENTITIES OF THE TWO PEOPLE KILLED IN CAR CRASH NEAR EGAN TUESDAY NIGHT. KEVIN MELANCON, 44 OF CALION ARKANSAS AND DONNA CORMIER, 44 OF EGAN DIED FROM THE ACCIDENT. NEITHER WERE WEARING SEAT BELTS WHEN WHILE MELANCON WAS SPEADING IN A 2013 CAMARO NORTHBOUND ON HWY 100. FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, MELANCON FAILED TO NEGOTIATE A RIGHT CURVE, RUNNING OFF THE ROAD INTO A DITCH AND HITTING A CULVERT. MELANCON WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL AND THE PASSENGER CORMIER WAS PRONOUNCED AT THE SCENE. IT’S UNCLEAR IF IMPAIRMENT WAS A FACTOR, BUT ROUTINE TOXICOLOGY SAMPLES WERE TAKEN.
HABITAT OR HUMANITY GAVE AWAY KEYS TO A NEW HOUSE LAST NIGHT, JEFF HORCHAK HAS THE STORY.
VOICER I :33
(AP) A Louisiana man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for taking more than $5,000 from two tellers at a bank. Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook said in a news release yesterday that U.S. District Judge Dee Drell sentenced 42-year-old Randall Courville of Eunice on one count of bank theft. He was also sentenced Friday to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $5,290 restitution. According to his April guilty plea, Courville entered a Eunice bank Jan. 20, wearing a surgical mask, hooded sweatshirt and gloves. He walked up to a teller’s station, reached across the counter into the teller’s drawer and removed money. He then moved to another teller’s station and removed money from that teller’s drawer as well. He fled with $5,290.
AN UNNAMED 16 YEAR OLD WAS ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER OF AN UNIDENTIFIED 18 YEAR MALE STILL IN CRITICAL CONDITION. THE SHOOTING TOOK PLACE AT THE HIMBOLA MANOR APARTMENTS TUESDAY AFTERNOON. YESTERDAY A SMALL CROWD GATHERED FOR A PEACE RALLY LED BY COMMUNITY ACTIVIST AND PASTOR LAWRENCE LEVY.
(AP) A Louisiana tax preparer has been sentenced to three years in prison for filing a false tax return and not paying more than $350,000 in taxes. Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook, in a news release yesterday, said U.S. District Judge Dee Drell sentenced 49-year-old Kevin Dalcourt and ordered him Friday to pay $397,989 restitution and a nearly $90,000 fine.
According to his April guilty plea, Dalcourt owned and managed Kevin’s Tax Service in Lafayette. He was jailed in 2010 on non-tax related state charges but continued to manage his business. His wife, Tamiko Dalcourt, helped run the company while he was in prison. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a 2012 return. She faces a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
(AP) A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit accusing the former leader of Louisiana’s Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control of racial discrimination. The Advocate reports that lawyer J. Arthur Smith III, who represents the men who filed the lawsuit, said Wednesday the agency will pay the two former ATC agents and one current agent a combined $250,000. The three black men — Charles Gilmore, Daimian McDowell and Larry Hingle — accused former ATC Commissioner Troy Hebert, who is white, of systematically eliminating black employees from supervisory positions within ATC’s enforcement division. Hebert left the office at the end of 2015. Hingle is the only plaintiff in the lawsuit who remains at ATC. The case was settled Tuesday, a day after a jury was picked to hear the case.
