Man arrested in serial robberies seeks criminal defense

The most likely theory as to why someone would commit a series of 15 armed robberies in a period of less than a year is that he has an unquenchable and overwhelming drug addiction. In Louisiana, police in Lake Charles have arrested a man who they allege is a serial armed robber. They say that they’ve suspected the man for the past several days and have been watching him since then. He’s now in jail seriously looking for a criminal defense attorney to help him defend what could be at least 15 felony charges.

Police apparently caught the accused in the act of robbing another retail store on July 22. They engaged him in a high speed chase, which continued until his white van crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of Prien Lake and Lake Street. He exited the vehicle and tried to abscond but was quickly apprehended and placed under arrest. They immediately charged him with the July 22 armed robbery and announced him as a suspect in the 14 others.

The retail store robberies have been occurring since Oct. 2012 at area convenience stores. The Lake Charles police chief said that last weekend alone they had 51 officers on the streets waiting for the suspect to hit. The robber in each incident had been armed with a long barrel revolver.

However, the chief would not say whether they recovered the revolver or not. He indicated that they were in the process of getting search warrants, which could mean that police did not yet locate the alleged robbery weapon. There was apparently no weapons charge when the July 22 arrest was made.

Under Louisiana law, if no gun is actually found in the execution of the search warrants the police focus on this individual could be revealed as misplaced. It would be difficult to tie in the July 22 incident with the others. A criminal defense to the remaining 14 robberies could focus on the fact that the accused was carrying no gun during the July 22 robbery, which would be established as an atypical event not fitting the pattern established in the 14 other incidents.

Source: kplctv.com, “Lake Charles Police arrest serial armed robber suspect,” Lee Peck, July 22, 2013