Hardly news

It's terrible to get so jaded that another robbery elicits only a ho-hum. The good news is that there have been only 9 of them reported in the last 2 weeks, only 4 of them armed. (Remember when there was at least one a day, and seemed more like 2 or 3?) The bad news is that there was only one arrest for robbery in the past 2 weeks--so the bad guys are still out there lurking. You have to keep your guard up.

The armed robberies:

• Tuesday (4.20.10) 12:37 a.m.: A white guy walking in the 1000 block of Touro Street (between N. Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue) escaped being robbed when he took off running after being accosted by a black thug brandishing a brick, demanding his money. The victim refused and the would-be robber swung the brick but missed the victim.

The poorly-armed robber was described as 18 to 23 years old, 5'9" to 5'11" tall, weighing 160 to 170 pounds, with a medium to dark complexion, wearing a dark-colored T-shirt and dark shorts.

• Sunday (4.11.10) 1:10 a.m.: 2 couples (2 men, 2 women) were walking in the 1000 block of Ursulines Avenue (between Burgundy and N. Rampart streets) were robbed by 2 black dudes armed with pistols.

Both robbers were described as in their early 20's, 5'10" tall, with slim builds and dark complexions, wearing all dark-colored clothing; one had corn rows and the other long hair.

• Wednesday (4.7.10) 3:10 a.m.: A couple walking in the 900 block of Royal Street (between Dumaine and St. Philip streets) was robbed by a black thug with a pistol.

He was described as 25 to 30 years old, 5'11" tall, weighing 190 pounds, with a dark complexion, wearing a light gray hoodie and blue jeans.

• Tuesday (4.6.10) 11:40 p.m.: A white guy walking in the 1000 block of St. Philip Street (between Burgundy and N. Rampart streets) was robbed of his wallet and cellphone by a black guy wielding a pistol.

The robber was described as 20 to 29 years old, 5'9" to 5'10" tall, weighing 160 to 165 pounds, with a dark complexion, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and dark-colored shorts.

Simple robberies and pursesnatchings:

• Friday (4.16.10) 9:04 p.m.: It's not known yet if this is the notorious bike bandit who's been swooping past women and snatching their purses for the last month or so, but 8th District cops arrested Craig Hayes, 19, after a white woman was robbed in the 900 block of Royal Street (between Dumaine and St. Philip streets) by a black guy on a bicycle who grabbed her purse from her shoulder and fled to St. Ann Street and turned toward Bourbon Street.

• Thursday (4.15.10) 11:30 a.m.: A white man walking in the 600 block of Loyola Avenue (near Girod Street) was robbed in broad daylight by a black punk who grabbed the wallet from his hand and then fled on foot toward Howard Avenue.

The perp was described as 16 to 18 years old, 5'9" to 5'11" tall, weighing 160 to 170 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Wednesday (4.14.10) 10:58 p.m.: A white woman walking in the 1400 block of Bourbon Street (just across Esplanade Avenue in the Marigny Triangle) had her purse snatched from her by a black creep who fled in a white Ford Explorer toward Elysian Fields Avenue.

It happened so quickly she could only describe him as wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Monday (4.12.10) 3:24 a.m.: A white woman walking in the 300 block of Carondelet Street in the CBD (for crying out loud: take a cab into that neighborhood at that hour!) was robbed of her cellphone (wanna bet she was yakking on it and didn't even notice her assailants approaching?) by 2 black dudes who fled on foot.

She described both of them as 20 to 28 years old, one 6' tall with a thin build, dark complexion, long dreadlocks, wearing a black T-shirt; the other had a medium build, dark complexion, short hair, and also wearing a black T-shirt.

• Saturday (4.10.10) 1:55 a.m.: A white woman walking near Bourbon and St. Louis streets had her cellphone grabbed out of her hand (again: yackitty-yack) by a black thug who fled on food on St. Louis, turning on Dauphine Street toward Conti Street.

He was described as 18 to 20 years old, 6'3" tall, with a slim build and short hair, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Watch your purses: You don't have to be out on the streets to have your purse stolen. It happened to 2 women last Friday (4.16.10) night at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen Street.

They were dining there and hung their purses on their chairs. When the performance in the other room ended, the large audience exited through the dining room. During the exit they felt their chairs being bumped into several times. Once the throng had dissipated they realized their purses were missing.

A NOcrimeline reader who notified us of the incident wondered why the police took so an hour or so to respond. It turns out the women first notified the club's management who searched the entire club for the purses. When they weren't found, the police were contacted.

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

Thom Kahler

Hot time in the old town

Enough violence to go around: Doesn't matter your socio-economic status, you had a good chance of being a victim in the French Quarter this weekend. Everyone's probably heard by now of the Saturday (4.10.10) night rampage outside McDonald's on Canal Street, where 8 were gunned down by the usual suspects. But shrouded in greater mystery is the vicious attack Friday (4.9.10) on 2 GOP devotees after they left a fundraiser for the Louisiana Republican Party at Brennan's.

Injured in that melee were Gov. Bobby Jindal's chief fundraiser, Alexandra "Allee" Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joe Brown. Bautsch had her leg broken and Brown suffered a concussion to accompany a fractured nose and jaw. Though the incident happened Friday night, there was no news of it until a flak for Jindal issued a press release late Monday. NOcrimeline finally pried a report out of the 8th District this afternoon that supplied some details.

According to that report, the duo was attacked around 10:45 p.m., about an hour after the fundraiser ended, on St. Louis Street in front of the Omni Royal Orleans hotel by a gang of 3 to 5 white guys who allegedly followed the couple around the corner from Brennan's restaurant in the 400 block of Royal Street.

"A verbal altercation began between the male victim and the suspects, which turned physical. The female victim attempted to break up the altercation and in the process, broke her leg," the report stated.

Only one of the assailants was described in any detail: he was said to be in his late 20’s, 6’01” tall, with a thin build, beard, ponytail, and dark brown or dark red hair, wearing a light-colored T-shirt and dark pants.

Some GOP partisans, who attended the $10,000-a-plate fundraiser in conjunction with the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, speculated the couple were pursued by Democratic protesters who noted they were wearing Sarah Palin pins. A friend who visited Bautsch in the hospital Saturday morning said Bautsch told her that although the demonstration at Brennan's had pretty much broken up an hour after the event, she and her boyfriend were followed by the gang and heard one of them say, “Let’s get them, they have Palin pins on!” (A Jindal spokesman denied they were wearing emblems of a likely candidate who will probably compete with Jindal in 2012.)

The Republicans were targets of 200 to 250 protesters who marched on the Hilton Riverside hotel on Friday in opposition to Jindal's proposed budget cuts in education and health care. Demonstrations of this sort are usually handled by the NOPD's Intelligence Unit, though it falls to the 8th District to try to find the couple's assailants. Sources tell NOcrimeline that there is no indication at this time that the assailants were protesters. Crime cameras in the area are being checked.

And the rest of the mayhem: The next night, a dude with a grudge apparently left over from a dispute on Mardi Gras at the same McDonald's on Canal near Royal Street fired a gun into a crowd around 9:15 p.m. and hit his target, a 17-year-old black boy.

The 17-year-old was wounded in the torso and was taken to the hospital where he was treated overnight. Also wounded by the spray of bullets:

• 15-year-old girl, shot in the leg,
• 15-year-old boy, shot in the leg,
  
• 20-year-old man, shot in the leg,
• two 21-year-old men, shot in the leg,
• 25-year-old man, shot in the foot,
• 50-year-old woman, shot in the shoulder.

8th District detectives found a handgun at the scene are trying to determine if it's the weapon used in the shooting. Shell casings littered the area in such profuse numbers that crime lab techs resorted to using empty Hand Grenades (right) from Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street. They are looking for 2 suspects, one of whom handed the pistol to the shooter outside the restaurant before he ripped off a fusillade into the crowd.

One suspect was described as a black boy, 5'6" tall, wearing dark-colored clothing and a baseball cap. The second was also black, with long dreadlocks.

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

Thom Kahler

Not a Good Friday

Stick-ups: Crime took no break over the Good Friday holiday, as these armed robberies indicate:

• Friday (4.2.10) 1:00 a.m.: 2 white women walking in the 500 block of Conti Street (between Decatur and Chartres streets) were held up by a little punk who claimed to be armed. He took only one of the victims' purses and took off running toward Chartres.

He was described as Hispanic or a light-complexioned black guy, 5'7" tall, medium build, wearing a dark jacket and blue jeans.

• Friday (4.2.10) 10:30 p.m.: A Hispanic man walking in the 1000 block of Canal Street (between N. Rampart and Burgundy streets) was set upon by a gang of 4 black thugs, one of whom pulled a knife and demanded his cellphone. The victim was apparently unfazed by the incident since he didn't report it to police until the next day.

Maybe that allowed him to figure out what the perps looked like: one 5'10" tall, weighing 170 pounds, with dreadlocks, wearing a dark-colored hoodie and dark blue jeans; the second 6'2" tall, weighing 200 to 220 pounds, with corn rows and gold teen, wearing a dark-colored hoodie with a white T-shirt underneath and blue jeans; the third 5'10" tall, with corn rows, wearing a brown hoodie and blue jeans; and the fourth 6' tall, weighing 200 to 210 pounds, wearing a dark-colored hoodie with a white T-shirt underneath and blue jeans.

Grab and go: Then there was the unarmed--but just as vicious--thieves who struck on Good Friday, as well as Palm Sunday:

• Friday (4.2.10) 3:30 a.m.: A white woman walking in the 900 block of Canal Street (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) fell victim to a robber who sounds an awfully lot like the one who robbed the 2 women a couple of hours earlier (see above), only this time he didn't imply he had a gun. He grabbed the woman's purse and fled in a red pickup truck parked on Dauphine near Canal, turning down Burgundy toward Esplanade Avenue.

He was described as Hispanic, 5'7" tall, weighing 140 pounds, wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt and blue jeans.

• Friday (4.2.10) 11:30 p.m.: A white guy walking in the 600 block of Bourbon Street (between Toulouse and St. Peter streets) was accosted by 4 black boys--the same gang that struck on Canal Street an hour earlier?--who grabbed the victim's money from his hand and fled on foot.

But this time, the cops caught up with 3 of the 4 thugs; the 4th perp remains at large. Arrested were:

• Dantrel Brown (top), 18, charged with simple robbery and illegal possession of stolen things under $300. He is being held in OPP in lieu of $30,000 bond.

• Jamal J. Johnson (middle), 17, charged with simple robbery. The magistrate found there was no probable cause to charge him with illegal possession of stolen things under $300, and dismissed that charge. He is being held on $25,000 bond.

• Alton Warren (bottom), 18, who has a criminal record going back to when he turned adult at 17, was charged only with simple robbery. He is being held on a $25,000 bond.

• Sunday (3.28.10) 4:25 a.m.: A white woman walking in the 900 block of Canal Street (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) had her purse snatched by a black thug who fled on foot down Dauphine toward Esplanade Avenue.

She described him as 6" to 6'4" tall, with a medium build and dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Friday (3.26.10) 3:30 a.m.: A white guy who didn't know where he was on Bourbon Street (that happens a lot--particularly at this hour after a night of imbibing) was struck by a black dude who grabbed his wallet and fled.

The assailant was described as 6"2" tall, weighing 200 pounds, wearing dark-colored clothing.

What was this about?: A white guy sitting in his house in the 600 block of N. Rampart Street (between Toulouse and St. Peter streets) saw a woman wandering in his abode. She exited and he followed her outside. He asked her what she had been doing in his house and she struck him several times. He grabbed her and held her until the police showed up.

The cops charged Sheryl Lonergan, 33, with aggravated burglary. She is being held in OPP in lieu of $50,000 bond.

No fatal, no foul?: This is a little mysterious. Just after midnight on Monday (4.5.10), 2 black boys--yes, boys, who were violating curfew--realized they had been wounded after hearing gunshots at Magazine and St. Joseph streets in the CBD. The police report doesn't say where the boys, one 16 and the other 17, were shot or how many times. Friends drove them to the LSU Trauma Center, where they were treated.

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

Thom Kahler

It just never ends

2 more caught: 8th District cops rounded up 2 more black boys just beginning their career in crime.

The duo were believed to be the culprits in the robbery of a white man walking in the 800 block of St. Charles Avenue (between Julia and St. Joseph streets in the CBD) around 12:32 a.m. last Saturday (3.20.10). One of them allegedly grabbed the victim and demanded his money.

Arrested a short time later were Claude Washington (top), 17, and Willie Batiste (bottom), 18. Both were charged with simple robbery and are sitting in OPP on $15,000 bond each.

Bike bandit strikes again: The notorious bandit who's been swooping down on unsuspecting victims has struck again.

This time the victim was a white woman walking in the 100 block of Baronne Street (just across Canal Street in the CBD) around 11:55 p.m. last Tuesday (3.23.10). The black bandit was on a red bicycle when he grabbed the woman's purse before fleeing on his bike up Baronne toward Common Street where he turned toward O'Keefe Avenue.

He was described as 35 to 40 years old, wearing all dark-colored clothing.

Suspicious victim?: A robbery reported by a white guy last Saturday (3.20.10) has been questioned by 8th District detectives who said they "are suspicious of our victim's account of what actually occurred." They said the incident will be classified as an armed robbery "until additional facts become available."

According to the victim, 2 black guys accosted him around 12:30 a.m. in the 900 block of Burgundy Street (between St. Philip and Dumaine streets). One pulled a pistol and demanded his money, which he gave up. The 2 fled on foot down Burgundy toward Esplanade Avenue.

The victim described his assailants as 20 to 25 years old, one 6'2" tall, weighing 170 to 180 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans; the other was 6'1" tall, weighing 150 to 170 pounds, wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans.

The rest of the robberies: They just never to away. Add these robberies to the list:

• Sunday (3.21.10) 11:15 p.m.: No one's safe. Classify this as "brother-on-brother" crime. A pair of black guys were walking in the 600 block of N. Rampart Street (between Toulouse and St. Peter streets) when they were held up by a black brother who pulled a gun on them. The robber fled to a car parked near Toulouse and Burgundy streets, which then sped the wrong way on Toulouse toward Rampart.

The robber was described as 20 to 30 years old, 5'8" tall, with a thin build (sounds like they could have kicked the crap out of the little punk) and long dreadlocks, wearing a black jacket, white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Tuesday (3.23.10) 3:05 a.m.: And now "brother-on-sister" crime. A black woman walking near Bienville and N. Rampart streets was robbed by 2 black, one of whom slugged her with an unknown object and knocked her to the ground, while the other grabbed her purse. They fled to a car parked on N. Rampart which took off toward Canal Street.

One of the robbers was described as 5'10" tall, with a dark complexion, gold teeth and braids, wearing a black T-shirt; the other was described only as wearing a dark-colored baseball cap and blue jeans.

• Tuesday (3.23.10) 4:00 a.m.: Back to racially-charged crimes. A white guy was walking in the 800 block of St. Ann Street (between Bourbon and Dauphine streets) when he was attacked by a black dude who pushed him to the ground and took his wallet. The crook fled on foot.

He was described as 25 years old, 6' tall, with a pony tail, wearing a black T-shirt and black pants.

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

Thom Kahler