Arrest made in connection with Willowdale burglaries

A Marrero man was arrested last week in connection with the burglary of several homes in the Willowdale subdivision in Luling, and authorities are asking those who are missing items to come forward.

Richard Bearden Jr., 35, of 5113 Evans Drive in Marrero, was arrested July 1 and charged with simple burglary and simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling.

Bearden was arrested in Marrero following an investigation into several reports of burglarized sheds/garages in the Willowdale/Davis Pond area over several weeks in May and June.

St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne reported via Facebook that much of the victims’ property was recovered from Bearden’s Marrero home and returned to their rightful owners.

According to a case report detailing the Luling burglaries, a number of items had been identified by their owners at a Harvey pawn shop, Bearden allegedly having pawned them days after they were stolen.

Richard Bearden

Bearden was allegedly captured on video surveillance footage at the pawn shop.

A victim told police that a friend found his garage door ajar, and that the victim later found the garage door locking mechanism on the floor of the garage.  Another victim reported a burglar entered their unlocked, detached garage and stole numerous lawn/hand/electric tools.

After attaining a warrant with assistance from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, police searched the Marrero home of Bearden’s girlfriend and found several electric hand and lawn tools at the residence. Bearden admitted his involvement to police voluntarily, according to the report, after the items were found.

Champagne noted the initial report to police was of three burglarized homes. However, police recovered more property from Bearden’s residence than those victims were able to identify, leaving open the prospect that other homes were among those in the wave of thefts.

“This could well be property from other parishes,” Champagne wrote, noting Jefferson Parish detectives are also involved in the investigation. “However, it could also be property that someone in our neighborhood failed to report or notice missing. Please check your garages/sheds and see if you are missing anything. If so, please contact us.”

Bearden is currently being held in Nelson Coleman Correctional Center on a bail of $100,000.

 

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