Police: Levee workers bury equipment after joyride

Two employees of WRS Compass, a construction company working on the Western Tie-In levee project in Luling, were charged with causing more than $50,000 of damage to the company’s property.

Christopher Parrish, 37, of Hardin, Texas, and Casey Justice, 26, of Vidor, Texas, allegedly went to the site and damaged two bulldozers, two excavators and a tractor last week.

The damage was discovered by the company the next day and it appears the two men had been joyriding on the equipment. When the equipment became stuck in the mud, the two men caused damage to the machinery to make it look like vandalism, authorities said.

“They buried the equipment by driving it into the marsh,” Capt. Pat Yoes, a spokesman with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said.

Both men were charged with simple criminal damage over $5,000. Their bonds were set at $50,000.

WRS Compass is working on raising the levee of the Davis Pond Diversion.