The good, bad, and ugly

UGLY: Shades of "Pretty Baby": A 14-year-old girl wandering in the French Quarter on Monday (3.9.09) evening was picked up by a 40-year-old black guy around 9:47 p.m. His name was "Joe", he told her, and took her to a bar in the Quarter. Then he took her to his house in the 2100 block of Perdido Street where he had intercourse with her.

The police are calling it "rape", perhaps due to the age of the girl involved, and as such are giving no information to the public.

Yes, the questions are: What was a teenage girl doing sporting in the Quarter, eluding the curfew? And what was she doing in bar where obviously they don't check IDs?

BAD: A number of bad guys have managed to escape charges against them, thanks to the District Attorney refusing to prosecute their cases:

• We just found out the DA refused all charges against Joseph Lawrence, 21, who wound up with 16 charges against him after a man was robbed outside the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel in the CBD last September.

Lawrence was charged with simple robbery, possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy, possession of a firearm while in possession of controlled dangerous substances, flight from an officer and resisting arrest, plus a host of traffic violations too numerous for anyone but a police officer to tabulate. He's now roaming our streets again.

• Utopia for them, maybe: At the time, it seemed reminiscent of the scene out of the movie "Animal House" where some unsavory dudes come up to the frat boys and say, "We wanna dance wit yore dates." Except at Utopia Night Club last October it got out of hand.

A white man was dancing with his girlfriend when a Hispanic guy came up and wanted to dance with the woman. The boyfriend told him his advances weren't wanted, at which point the interloper's 2 buddies stuck the boyfriend with a bottle and a chair, knocking him to the ground and the other man punched him.

Police arrested Rafael Lopez (left), 38, and Luis Tablas (right), 25, and charged them with aggravated battery. But last Tuesday (3.10.09) the DA dropped all charges against them.

GOOD: Arrests and warrants solve some cases:

• Tuesday (3.10.09) night, 2 black dudes loitering on a stoop in the 900 block of Bourbon Street (between St. Philip and Dumaine streets) thought they smelled easy money when a 39-year-old white man walked by about 10:40 p.m.

One of the black boys pulled a gun and demanded the man's money. He told them he didn't have any, but offered them some cigarettes instead. The 2 dummies settled for the smokes and fled on foot to Ursulines Avenue and turned the corner toward Royal Street.

A short time later, officers apprehended Devon Mathieu (right),19, and Evan Hartzog (left), 18, and charged them with armed robbery.

Mathieu's momma bailed him out with a property bond of $75,000; Hartzog is still sitting in OPP in lieu of a $45,000 bond.

• Tuesday (3.10.09): Detectives issued an arrest warrant for Jamal Jackson, 24, for an armed robbery that took place 2.15.09 at Iberville Street near Dorsiere Street (between Decatur and Chartres streets) around 5:30 a.m. when a black dude came up behind a 21-year-old black woman with a gun and robbed her of her purse. The robber was described as about 30 years old, 5'8" tall, weighing 150 pounds.

• Monday (3.9.09): Police arrested Clarence Andrews, 19, and charged him with simple robbery. Andrews was allegedly in a trio of black thugs who accosted an Uptown white woman in the 1100 block of Dauphine Street (between Ursulines Avenue and Gov. Nicholls Street) on 12.27.08. One bumped into the victim and another one grabbed her purse.

• A week ago (3.5.09): Ofc. Anthony Bakewell and Ofc. Joe Waguespack arrested an oft-arrested and sometimes convicted coke dealer in the 400 block of Dauphine Street (between Conti and St. Louis streets) late in the evening.

Cory C. Mackey, 32, was charged with distribution of cocaine, possession of crack, possession of cocaine, and extortion. He is being held in OPP on $155,000 bond.

An accomplice police reported arresting with him, Darrell Carr, does not show up in court records.

VERY GOOD: And sometimes the bad guys go to jail:

• It seemed like a simple little robbery, no big deal. But Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson wasn't treating it like one when she sentenced Douglas Roach, 21, to 10 years in prison last Thursday (3.12.09) after he pled guilty to 2 armed robberies. Then, noting it was a crime of violence, she tacked on another 10 years, though it will run concurrent with the other sentence.

Roach was arrested last September after he robbed 2 white guys in the middle of the afternoon who were walking in the 200 block of S. Robertson Street.

• A pursesnatcher is going to be doing 3 years in prison, thanks to Judge Frank Marullo Jr. On Tuesday (3.10.09), Marullo sentenced Leroy Gordon, 17, after he pled guilty to the charge.

Less than 2 weeks after he turned 17 last November, Gordon was arrested after he grabbed the purse of a woman who was about to into Krystal Hamburgers in the 100 block of Bourbon Street. He knocked her down and made off with her purse but was nabbed by officers before he got to Iberville Street.

Not so GOOD: A black woman who'd just gotten into her car parked in the 2100 block of St. Claude Avenue (between Frenchmen Street and Elysian Fields Avenue) on Sunday (3.8.09) night around 11:20 p.m. was stopped from closing the door by a black man who ordered her out of the car. He appeared unarmed, but she complied without resistance.

The thief sped off in the 1999 white Mercedes ML320 (Louisiana tag SHR674. The crook was described as 6' tall, medium to dark complexion, with a deep voice.

* * *

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler