Vehicle stolen from Picayune policeman's Poplarville home found in Bogalusa scrap yard

Billy Ray Briggs

Richard Hawker Rome, of Carriere, Miss., was in big trouble with law enforcement a few months back, being cited on 461 counts of purchasing a motor vehicle without a title.

And it seems to have happened again.

That’s because a Picayune police officer had his 1996 Ford Ranger stolen on April 22 from his Poplarville home. Then, at the end of May, he found his truck, sitting on blocks, at Rome’s business, Rome’s Recycling, located just outside the Bogalusa city limit.

The vehicle, without title, was sold to Rome’s by an individual who got it from the two persons who stole it from the policeman.

Debra Ann Kendrick

After the officer, unidentified for security reasons, located his vehicle, Pearl River County Sheriff’s Det. Rob Williams was able to get information on the individual who sold the vehicle to Rome’s based on records from the business. After contacting that person, he learned that a pair of Pearl River County residents, 41-year-old Billy Ray Briggs and 44-year-old Debra Ann Kendrick, had sold it to the individual.

Williams learned that Briggs and Kendrick had stolen the vehicle and found them both — in custody with the Picayune Police Department on unrelated charges.

Both Kendrick and Briggs were arrested as soon as they had completed their previous sentence on June 2. Kendrick’s list of charges includes no driver’s license, no insurance, DUI and grand larceny, while Briggs is now being held only on a grand larceny charge.

Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Shane Tucker told the Picayune Item that the man who sold the truck to the junk yard is facing charges in Washington Parish related to the theft.

Attempts to contact the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office to learn the identity of the selling party and charges filed in connection with case were unsuccessful Friday.

In February, Rome was charged with 501 counts of selling a motor vehicle as scrap without a permit, 461 counts of purchasing a motor vehicle without title or affidavit of ownership, one count of not keeping required records and one count of scrapping a vehicle without a license to crush.

At that time, Rome was able to remain open, and Police Chief Joe Culpepper told the Bogalusa newspaper he believed the recycler was no longer accepting cars or trucks.


Obviously not.

Second Capital One Bank robber returned to Louisiana after governor signs warrant

The second of two suspects arrested in connection with the April 20 robbery of the Columbia Street Branch of Capital One Bank is now in jail in Bogalusa.

Aswell

Walter Aswell, III, 22, of Mandeville, was extradited from the Pearl River (Miss.) County Jail Tuesday. Aswell was the driver of the getaway vehicle.

“He’s here now,” Bogalusa Chief of Police Joe Culpepper told wpnewsblog. “We had to find a wheelchair for him.”

Aswell joins his criminal partner, 23-year-old Logan Mills of Covington, behind Louisiana jail bars.

“We had to get a Governor’s warrant, and let me tell you, that’s a pain,” Culpepper said. A governor’s warrant is a warrant issued by the Governor's office and used to extradite a wanted suspect from another state, where they are being held under arrest, in order to be returned to the warrant-issuing state to face trial for a criminal act.

“Our district attorney’s office prepared it and sent it to the state attorney general, who then sent it to the governor’s office,” Culpepper explained. “After the governor signed it, it went to the governor’s office in Mississippi who sent it to their state attorney general who reviewed it and then told Pearl River County to give him (Aswell) to us.”

Mills

Aswell had been in the Pearl River County Jail in Poplarville following his release from Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, where he had been treated for multiple gunshot wounds.

According to police reports, the two stole a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon from a personal acquaintance in Mandeville about 4 a.m. on April 20 before driving to Bogalusa, where they entered the bank shortly before 10 a.m., wearing masks and armed with semi-automatic pistols.

When they exited the bank, multiple members of the public took note of their vehicle and began calling police.

At the time, Culpepper told the Bogalusa newspaper, “Public participation was on our side today. I believe we received calls from people in the area who noticed that a bank robbery was in progress prior to the alarm company calls from the bank. People called to report suspicious activity.

“A member of the public then flagged down an officer who was on patrol near the bank and gave him a vehicle description. He immediately began an investigation, tried to catch the vehicle. About that time the 9-1-1 call from the alarm company came in and the rest of the shift responded.”

Culpepper said an attempt was made to stop the vehicle prior to reaching the state line, but that one of the robbers opened fire on the officer, striking his vehicle multiple times. The officer was not injured.

A high-speed chase ensued, beginning on Louisiana Avenue and eventually crossing into Mississippi, where the men stopped at a vacated restaurant site in the White Sands Community and ran into a field.

Culpepper said the men still refused to give up and “were shot up pretty bad.” Both were taken to Forrest General before being moved to the county jail in Poplarville. Culpepper said Pearl River County deputies arrived on the scene as the men were being taken into custody.

“The real problem for Pearl River County was the cost of his (Aswell’s) medicine,” Culpepper said, adding that Aswell’s mother has now gotten him on Medicare.

Each man has been charged with armed robbery, three counts each of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, dangerous use of a weapon, resisting arrest and aggravated destruction of a highway.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)

(Reader news tip story)