ST. TAMMANY CRIME NEWS

Tracking local crime and police news in New Orleans, Louisiana

ELLIS LUCIA / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEAshley Snipes, 20, rests after a morning fire badly damaged her small house off South Pontchartrain Drive in Lacombe on Tuesday. Snipes, who lives in the home with her boyfriend and another friend, was alone and asleep at the time of the fire but ran out in time to avoid injury.

A fire apparently triggered by a generator severely damaged a house on South Pontchartrain Drive in Lacombe on Tuesday morning, leaving three residents homeless.

A former employee of a Slidell medical practice is behind bars in Picayune, Miss., on suspicion of stealing a doctor's pad, writing dozens of fake prescriptions and selling the pills.

A former employee of a Slidell medical practice is behind bars in Picayune, Miss., after allegedly stealing a doctor's pad, writing dozens of fake prescriptions and selling the pills.

Mark Carpenter

A former assistant principal at Lee Road Junior High School pleaded guilty Monday to raping a 6-year-old girl and possessing child pornography.

Mark Carpenter, 54, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping the girl in 1986, before he was hired by the St. Tammany Parish school system.

A driver from Baton Rouge has been booked with vehicular homicide after an alleged drunk-driving accident near Mandeville that killed her passenger.

G. Andrew Boyd / The Times-PicayuneAn Abita Springs tanker unit dumps water into a pool used by a pumper engine as fire equipment blocks two-lane Highway 21 north of Covington. A Baton Rouge man and his son were killed when fire heavily damaged a house at 73212 Highway 21 north of Covington early Sunday morning, also known locally as Military Road, completely blocking the highway for several hours as firefighters fought the blaze. About a dozen firefighting units from Fire District 12, Abita Springs and surrounding units pitched in to help.

A Baton Rouge man and his 3-year-old son were killed in a house fire near Covington early Sunday, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said.

A teary-eyed but tough 73-year-old mayor of Madisonville called it "justice" Thursday afternoon after a St. Tammany Parish jury found Charles Holcombe guilty of robbing him outside his restaurant in 2006.

A teary-eyed, but still tough 73-year-old old mayor of Madisonville called it "justice" on Thursday afternoon after a St. Tammany Parish jury found Charles Holcombe guilty of robbing him outside his restaurant in 2006.

A Bush man was found guilty on Wednesday of having helped Dominic Robinson escape and cover up evidence after the killing of Samantha Jaume, the Mandeville-area homemaker murdered in front of her children on Independence Day, 2001.

Even after spending seven years in prison, it didn't take Michael Nelson long to get back to his old habits, Slidell police said.

A Slidell man shot and killed his neighbor's pit bulls after they attacked him and his dog Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

After a mistrial in April, a man is back on trial in Covington for allegedly beating and robbing Madisonville Mayor Peter Gitz at the mayor's restaurant in 2006.

Scott Threlkeld / The Times-PicayuneMandeville Police Chief Tom Buell, left, who has led the department since 1974, and Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price.

The opening strains of Tom Buell's farewell to Mandeville on Thursday night were met with accolades befitting a police chief who had served for three decades, shepherding his department from a handful of officers into a modern force equipped with laptops and sophisticated radios.

ELLIS LUCIA / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEAccording to St. Tammany Parish authorities, Cynthia Lynch of Tulsa, Okla., was shot dead last week while arguing with Raymond 'Chuck' Foster, the imperial wizard of the Bogalusa Sons of Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, near this camp site in the Devil's Island area off the Pearl River Canal in Sun, La. The pair reportedly argued during Lynch's initiation rites to join the organization. The camp site is on a levee bluff constructed from the borrow of canal dredge material and is a popular camping site because of a small sandy area at the water's edge allowing for easy boating access.

See the Klan oath and other documents from the Sons of Dixie Knights of the KKK.

Through the sparse cover of barren trees, a cluster of colorful tents adorns a rise alongside the Pearl River Canal.

Cluttered with fishing gear, bags of junk food, discarded cigarette packs and other trash, it seems like an ordinary campsite, the kind any good old boys of the north shore might set up to do some hunting and fishing in that quiet patch of God's country on the fringe of the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge.

Oklahoma Department of CorrectionsCynthia C. Lynch

Cynthia Lynch boarded a bus in Tulsa on Friday and braced herself to venture out of Oklahoma for the first time in her life.

Described by family members as weak-willed, the 43-year-old divorcee was reaching out, scrambling for some kind of acceptance even if it meant traveling 700 miles to meet with a small group of dedicated Ku Klux Klansmen in a remote corner of St. Tammany Parish while promising to spread their message of racial purity.

See the application Cynthia Lynch filled out for the Sons of Dixie.

Oklahoma Department of CorrectionsCynthia C. Lynch

The Tulsa, Okla, woman allegedly slain by a member of the Ku Klux Klan on Sunday when she tried to back out of an initiation rite in St. Tammany Parish has been identified as 43-year-old Cynthia C. Lynch, authorities said Wednesday.

In the wake of a weekend slaying tied to a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual, Washington Parish authorities said they are surprised to learn the group was based in their area.

Susan PoagU.S. Attorney Jim Letten addressses the media after State Sen. Derrick Shepherd pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the Hale Boggs Federal Courthouse in New Orleans Oct. 10.

Boy, was I pleased when Barack Obama won the election. At last, I thought to myself, we'll be rid of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. Letten is a newspaperman's nightmare. You can't laugh at him because he never says anything stupid. You can't blast him because he is scrupulously fair. He works tirelessly putting crooks in stir, but is a most amiable fellow. He is an absolute dead loss.

So, thanks for nothing, Mary Landrieu. Just because Letten has done an exemplary job during the Bush administration, the doyenne of Louisiana Democrats does not think he should be replaced.

Map of area where the body was found.

In the wake of a weekend slaying tied to a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual, Washington Parish authorities said they are surprised to learn the group was based in their area.

Video: Outraged locals react

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain has scheduled a news conference this afternoon to release more information about a body that was found Monday near Sun.

A woman found slain in rural St. Tammany Parish on Monday was shot to death by members of the Ku Klux Klan after she tried to back out of an initiation ritual, St. Tammany Parish authorities announced Tuesday.

After four weeks on the lam, a 30-year-old man described as Covington Police Department's "most wanted criminal," was apprehended Thursday evening in Mandeville.

FRANKLINTON, La. -- A 61-year-old Franklinton man is accused of killing four small dogs belonging to his neighbors and setting their bodies on fire.

The body of an elderly man was found Wednesday afternoon behind the Green Springs Motel next to the Little Bogue Falaya River near Covington.

A Pearl River couple who lived right across the street from the Police Department - on Church Street no less - recently were arrested for allegedly growing and selling marijuana.

The two-month search for a man accused of driving up to women and girls in Covington and masturbating in front of them ended Tuesday morning when he was caught in the act near a Catholic girls' school, authorities said Wednesday.

A burglary ring responsible for as many as 15 break-ins in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes has been broken up, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office said.

A Harvey man died early Tuesday after he drove his car through a stop sign and was hit by a pickup on Louisiana 59 near Mandeville, authorities said.

Underage shoppers were able to buy alcohol at almost two-thirds of businesses tested in undercover stings by St. Tammany Parish agencies this month, authorities said Monday.

Two more law enforcement officers have been cited in the past month for traveling at more than 80 mph on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and one of the men initially refused to stop when ordered to do so, reports show.

A former Slidell Police officer who quit the force after being accused of stealing from Hispanic motorists has been booked with additional counts of shaking down motorists after pulling them over.

A Slidell area man was killed Monday afternoon when an allegedly drunken driver crashed into him as he rode his motorized wheelchair outside his Donya Drive home.

A Slidell area bait-shop owner who tried to hire a man to kill his wife during their contentious divorce is behind bars, authorities said Monday.

Three St. Bernard Parish residents died about 7 miles outside of Slidell on Interstate-10 after the Jeep they were driving in crashed with a pickup truck driven by a St. Bernard Parish man Sunday morning.

A Covington man who was stabbed at a Mandeville daiquiri bar in March claims one of the bouncers was singing karaoke that night instead of patrolling the dance floor.

Covington Police DepartmentAn SUV crashed into the Iglesia de Dios Ebenezer Church, 1271 N. Lee Road, Wednesday afternoon.

An illegal immigrant's attempt to teach himself how to drive didn't end well in Covington.

Two people were arrested after trying to cash a forged check at a Slidell credit union while sitting in a stolen car filled with drug paraphernalia, authorities said.

A Boutte man apparently never learned that patience is a virtue, an oversight that landed him in jail after he allegedly pulled a gun and threatened a motorist at a gas station in Slidell.

Montairo Catoire-Miller, 33

A Madisonville woman was booked with attempted second-degree murder after she fired a shotgun from her minivan at her daughter's ex-boyfriend Monday afternoon, authorities said Tuesday.

Montairo Catoire-Miller, 33, was driving near the intersection of Kathmann Street and Hester Street near Madisonville about 4 p.m. when she saw her 16-year-old daughter's ex-boyfriend standing with a group of friends, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman George Bonnett said. Catoire-Miller's three teenage children, including her daughter, were in the car at the time, he said.

For the first time in at least two decades, drivers caught violating traffic laws in the town of Madisonville will see a substantial increase in the fines they pay.

A Hammond man was shot in the face in a Covington bar over the weekend and police are working to track down the shooter.

WVUE-TV news anchor John Snell was booked with DWI after an early-morning traffic stop in Mandeville last week.

A state trooper stopped Snell, 49, about 1:50 a.m. on Sept. 28 on U.S. 190 near N. Causeway Boulevard, State Police spokesman Trooper Louis Calato said.

Citing department policy, Calato declined to say why the trooper pulled Snell over. However, in addition to the DWI charge he was booked into St. Tammany Parish Jail in Covington with improper lane use.

A 47-year-old Slidell motorcyclist died Saturday morning in a traffic accident.