Month: June 2025

Irielle Love sentenced to life plus 40 years for murdering 84-year-old woman

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (June 30) sentenced Irielle Love to life plus 40 years in prison for her conviction of stabbing a diminutive 84-year-old woman to death in her Metairie apartment. 

Love, 25, of Kenner, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Dory Sierra, a jury decided on June 18 during about 33 minutes of deliberations. Love also was convicted of obstruction of justice for taking Ms. Sierra’s cell phone after murdering her. 

Life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence is mandatory under Louisiana law for second-degree murder. Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court also sentenced Love to the maximum 40 years in prison for obstruction of justice. He ran the sentences consecutively. 

“You acted like a monster that day,” Judge Brindisi told Love in announcing the sentences. “You took her life and now we’re stuck with you. It’s not very fair to us.” 

On the morning of Dec. 1, 2020, Ms. Sierra, who stood at 4’8” and weighed 134 pounds, was stabbed 10 times in the bathroom of her apartment in the 3300 block of Edenborn Avenue. She lived in the complex for more than two decades. Her daughter, who resided with Ms. Sierra, found her mother’s body in the bathtub when she returned home from work that afternoon. 

“All evidence points to her. And it does. There is no doubt in this case that the person that is sitting right here in this chair murdered Dory Sierra,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Somerville told jurors in closing argument on June 18, pointing at Love seated at the defense table beside her attorney. 

Love was at the apartment complex with her mother and grandmother, who was seeking a new apartment because she was being evicted from her rental in Kenner. They went to the complex to look at a rental unit and to submit a lease application. 

When Love’s mother and grandmother temporarily left the complex to get a money order for the deposit, Love meandered around and wandered into Ms. Sierra’s apartment. Evidence shows that Love used pepper spray on Ms. Sierra during the attack. 

It was “a crime of opportunity,” Assistant District Attorney Eric Cusimano told jurors. 

After using paper and cloth towels to clean the blood from her own body, Love walked away with Ms. Sierra’s cell phone and the $280 that she set aside to pay her bills.  

Love left behind the piece of evidence that led the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to arrest her: A single fingerprint on the interior of the apartment door. 

Armed with a search warrant, detectives went to the Martinique Street apartment that Love shared with her grandmother. They found eviction papers in Love’s grandmother’s name and an order to appear before a justice of the peace in Kenner for an eviction hearing at 11:30 a.m., that day. 

The detectives learned that Love, her mother and grandmother arrived at the Edenborn Avenue apartment complex at about 9:50 a.m. Love’s whereabouts were unknown for about 30 minutes. By the time her mother and grandmother returned with the money order, Love had left the complex. 

Soon after, Love called them, asking them to pick her up at Barnett Street and West Esplanade Avenue. They arrived at the eviction hearing late. That afternoon, Love’s grandmother drove her to a hospital in New Orleans, where Love committed herself to the psychiatric ward. Detectives arrested her there three days later. 

Investigators, meanwhile, found Ms. Sierra’s cell phone at the bottom of a trash can outside an apartment building in the 4400 block of Kent Drive, just off West Esplanade and near where Love wanted her mother and grandmother to pick her up. 

Using geolocation technology, detectives determined that Love’s cell phone and Ms. Sierra’s cell phone were together as Love walked away from the murder scene. The cell phones were tracked together north on Edenborn to West Esplanade, and then west toward Kenner. Ms. Sierra’s cell phone ceased movement at Kent Drive, where Love left it in the garbage can, while Love’s cell phone continued on to the justice of the peace court in Kenner. Love, her mother and grandmother attended the late-morning eviction hearing. 

 “That is a damning piece of evidence,” Assistant DA Cusimano said. 

Love denied killing Ms. Sierra. At trial, her attorney conceded that she entered Ms. Sierra’s apartment and stole the cell phone and $280. But there was no evidence proving that Love killed the woman, he argued. 

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Brindisi heard victim-impact testimony from Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law and a member of the family for whom Ms. Sierra had been employed as a housekeeper and nanny. 

Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law noted how she remained active in her later years, traveled and attended mass weekly. Ms. Sierra, who stood “barely over four feet,” helped raise her autistic son. Because of his affliction, he does not know why she is no longer with him. 

“All he knows is that he lost her,” Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law testified. “He is not attached to very many people because of his autism, except for his grandmother.” 

As a nanny, Ms. Sierra helped raise three children who today are “young professionals” working in careers out of state, a member of that family told the court. She called Ms. Sierra “a beloved member of our family.” 

“She was part of us,” she testified. “We just cannot fathom how anyone can do this to anyone, especially our Nana.” 

In addition to the prison sentences, Judge Brindisi ordered Love to pay a $100,000 fine. “Ms. Love this was a senseless killing,” the judge told her. “There was no reason to do it. You took a good person from us.” 

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Eric Cusimano prosecuted the case. 

Saleh ‘Sam’ Omar sentenced to maximum 40 years for Terrytown duct tape killing

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 25) sentenced Saleh “Sam” Omar to 40 years in prison for his conviction of killing a man by tightly wrapping his face and torso with duct tape, leaving him unable to free himself to breathe.

A jury on April 24 found Omar, 47, guilty of manslaughter in the death of Mohamed “Mo” Mezlini, 29. Omar was indicted with second-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense.

In sentencing Omar to the maximum punishment for manslaughter, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court noted Wednesday that Omar’s use of duct tape to kill Mezlini was “particularly heinous.”

“I believe the defendant got a windfall from the jury,” Judge Faulkner noted, when it found Omar guilty of the lesser offense. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Click here to read about the trial.

Omar owned a cell phone repair business in a strip mall on Terry Parkway. He previously employed Mezlini. The men had unspecified animosity that culminated in a vacant suite in that strip mall on Sept. 8, 2018.

With the help of his half-brother Yazan Omar, then aged 17, Omar lured Mezlini to that vacant suite. A fight ensued and ended with Omar binding Mezlini with duct tape. He left Mezlini in the locked suite and fled from the strip mall.

Seventeen minutes after Omar fled, Yazan Omar and two of Omar’s employees broke into the vacant suite and found Mezlini bound in duct tape. They removed the tape, attempted chest compressions and called 911. Mezlini died the following day. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office said Mezlini died from asphyxia due to strangulation and smothering. His hyoid bone, in his throat, was also broken, indicating strangulation.

Omar fled to Central America, where he was arrested two weeks later in Panama and was returned to Jefferson Parish to face charges.

In December 2021, Yazan Omar, now 24, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Omar’s attorney provided the testimony of character witnesses and arguments in seeking leniency.

On the state’s side, more than two-dozen people provided victim-impact statements to the court seeking justice for Mezlini and the maximum punishment for Omar.

“He had his whole life ahead of him,” Mezlini’s widow testified. She will never forgive Omar, she told the court. She noted that the coldness of how he used duct tape to kill her husband “demonstrates a level of violence and depravity beyond comprehension.”

Mezlini’s mother called him “the epitome of good character and ethics.” His father added, “My son did nothing to deserve what happened to him.”

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case. They were assisted by Assistant District Attorneys Mallory Grefer and Darren Allemand.

Sean Barrette sentenced to three life sentences plus 180 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 18) sentenced Sean Barrette to three back-to-back life sentences plus another 180 years in prison for his conviction of targeting strangers in four unrelating shootings on East Jefferson roadways in June 2019, killing three men. 

Barrette, 28, of Metairie, was convicted Friday night of eight charges in connection with four separate shootings in East Jefferson. 

Click here to read about the trial. 

Judge Jacqueline Maloney of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Barrette on the sixth anniversary of his killing the last two of his victims and on his arrest by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. 

  • Count 1, the first-degree murder of Manuel Caronia, 45, of Metairie, who was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Escalade east in the 8600 block of West Metairie Avenue on June 18, 2019, when Barrette shot him. Caronia was struck by two bullets and died at the scene. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Caronia, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 2, the first-degree murder of Nicky Robeau, 57, of Harahan, who was Caronia’s passenger. He also was shot twice and died at the scene. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Robeau, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 3, the second-degree murder of Isia Francisco Cadalzo-Sevilla, 22, of Metairie, who was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze east on West Metairie Avenue near Henry Landry Drive on June 17, 2019. Cadalzo-Sevilla was wounded and drove off the roadway and into a tree. Barrette stopped, got out of his vehicle and continued shooting Cadalzo-Sevilla. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Cadalzo-Sevilla, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 4, the attempted first-degree murder of a 37-year-old Harvey man who was driving his 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis in Kenner on June 5, 2019, when Barrette shot at him, striking his car with eight bullets. He escaped unharmed. Barrette received a 50-year prison sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 5, the attempted first-degree murder of a 34-year-old Mississippi woman, who was a passenger in the Harvey man’s Grand Marquis. She escaped unharmed. Barrette received a 50-year sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 6, the attempted second-degree murder of a 24-year-old Algiers woman who on June 17, 2019, was returning home in her 2018 Toyota Camry from having dinner with friends at a Metairie restaurant when Barrette shot at her on Interstate 10 near the Orleans Parish line. Barrette received a 50-year sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 7, aggravated criminal damage to the Harvey man’s 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis. Barrette received a 15-year sentence for this charge. Judge Maloney ordered Barrette to pay a $10,000 fine. 
  • Count 8, aggravated criminal damage to the Algiers woman’s 2018 Toyota Camry. Barrette received a 15-year sentence for this charge. Judge Maloney ordered Barrette to pay a $10,000 fine. 

Life in prison is mandatory in Louisiana for first-degree and second-degree murder. Judge Maloney also gave Barrette the maximum punishment for the three attempted murder charges and criminal damage charges. She ordered that all sentences be served consecutively. 

After denying a defense motion for a new trial, Judge Maloney heard impact testimony from members of the family of the three slain men. 

Cadalzo-Sevilla’s mother and brother said he emigrated from Honduras at a young age, “full of dreams and aspiration” to become a paramedic in the United States. Neither attended the trial and sentencing, they said, because they did not want to “see Barrette’s face.” 

Robeau’s three daughters described him as a dedicated father, husband and grandfather to seven. “Sean, you cowardly hunted people down like they were prey,” one of them testified. 

Two of Caronia’s sisters described their youngest sibling as having a “sweet soul,” a man who at age 17 married a woman who had seven children and proceeded to have six children of his own. “When you took my brother, you took my family,” one of his sisters testified. 

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case. 

Former Grand Isle councilman Elgene Gary Sr. gets 45-year sentence for molesting girls

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (June 16) sentenced former Grand Isle town councilman Elgene Gary Sr. to 45 years in prison for his conviction of molesting two juvenile girls on the barrier island. He abused one of the victims decades ago, when she was a child.

Gary, 81, who also was a Grand Isle policeman and member of the port commission, was convicted by a jury on May 29 of three counts of sexual battery. Two of the counts involve the same victim, one for before her 13th birthday and one after.

Click here to read about the trial.

Louisiana State Police opened the investigation in October 2021, after one of the victims, then 16, reported that Gary began molesting her beginning when she was 7 years old.

The investigation led a 40-year-old woman to come forward in January 2022, saying Gary abused her, too, on one occasion when she was between 7 and 10 years old. Additionally, the jurors who convicted Gary at trial heard testimony from another adult woman who said he abused her, too, in Michigan when she was a child.

The victim whose complaint led to Gary’s conviction told the court in victim-impact testimony on Monday that, “I’ve lived not even 20 years, and so much of them have been filled with a lot of difficulties.”

“It’s still hard to look into the mirror, because if I look too long, I see someone who was very young and didn’t know what was happening,” she said of being sexually abused as a child. “I’m so sorry for her and sorry for everyone else who has ever met him. It’s going to take a long time to not hate myself for not knowing sooner. It wasn’t my fault, I know that.”

She asked that Gary received the maximum punishment.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Gary to 25 years for sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and 10 years for each of the two sexual battery charges. She ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 45 years.

To the victim who provided impact testimony Monday, Judge Kovach said she’s “an extremely brave woman” who “put an end to what other women have experienced.”

The judge acknowledged that the victim asked for the maximum sentence. “Given that he is (81) years old and has numerous health issues, I believe this is a life sentence,” Judge Kovach told her.

Gary also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He also is barred from having any contact with his victims for 100 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.

Sean Barrette convicted in East Jefferson shooting spree that left 3 dead

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 1 ½ hours on Friday night (June 13) in finding Sean Barrette guilty of shooting at the occupants of four vehicles traveling on East Jefferson roadways during a 2-week period in June 2019, killing three men.

Barrette, 28, of Metairie, is guilty as charged of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated criminal damage to property.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges, as well as not guilty by reason of insanity. In addition to finding him guilty, jurors rejected his attorneys’ argument that a mental illness left him unable to distinguish right from wrong during his crime spree.

“He wanted to be remembered for being a serial killer,” Assistant District Attorney Zach Grate told jurors in closing argument Friday evening. “He doesn’t think he’s going to be convicted for it.”

He urged jurors to never mention Barrette’s name again after leaving the courtroom. Notoriety, Assistant DA Grate said, “is the only thing he’s cared about from the start.”

Driving his family’s tan 2005 Nissan Pathfinder sports-utility vehicle, Barrette stalked motorists and all of his victims were strangers. He fired numerous bullets at them using the Smith & Wesson .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he purchased from a Metairie sporting goods store less than one month before he used it to shoot at motorists.

It was the ballistics evidence that he left behind, from the bullets recovered at autopsy, to those found in the victims’ vehicles, to the cartridge casings left at crime scenes, that helped investigators identify Barrette as the gunman. He also dropped his cell phone at one of the murder scenes.

Aided by its SWAT team, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Barrette at his home on June 18, 2019, just hours after he killed two men. As SWAT deputies converged on his home, Barrette hid the .40-caliber pistol and a bullet magazine in a clothes hamper in his bedroom. In his vehicle, the detectives found two .40-caliber cartridge casings.

“Every single one of these incidents link up, because the same exact gun was fired at every one of these scenes,” Assistant District Attorney Kristen Landrieu told jurors in opening statements Wednesday. “That gun belongs to Sean Barrette.”

Here’s the timeline of Barrette’s crime spree:

June 5, 2019, 11:19 p.m.

A 37-year-old Harvey man and a 34-year-old Mississippi woman were traveling on Airline Drive near Elm Street in his 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis when they noticed they were being followed by the driver of a light color SUV.

The man drove onto westbound Interstate 10 and then exited at Loyola Drive in Kenner. The SUV driver continued to follow them. The gunman began shooting at them in the 3100 block of Loyola, possibly wearing a mask. “Somebody was trying to kill us,” the woman testified, her voice wavering above a cry.

Several nearby residents called 911 to report hearing gunfire. The driver made a U-turn and raced back to I-10 west to escape. As the man drove north on Interstate 55, the woman called 911, reporting that someone had been shooting at them in Kenner and that their tires were blown out by bullets.

Fearing the shooter was still following him, the man exited I-55 at Manchac and hid underneath the elevated interstate. Louisiana State Police responded and notified the Kenner Police Department. His car had been struck by eight bullets, including the rear window and bumper. The victims returned to Kenner, to where the car was towed. Officers found .40-caliber cartridge casings near the shooting scene the following day.

The Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab entered ballistics data from the cartridge casings into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s National Integrated Ballistics Information Network. NIBIN, as the network is known, helps detectives determine whether firearms are used in multiple crimes.

For shooting at the couple, Barrette was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property.

June 17, 8:15 p.m.

A 24-year-old Algiers woman who had dined with friends at a Veterans Memorial Boulevard restaurant in Metairie was returning home. She merged onto I-10 from Causeway Boulevard and was driving eastbound near the Orleans Parish line when she heard popping on her car. Thinking it was hail from the storm she was driving through, she called her father on her cell phone and continued to the West Bank.

Once at home, she and her father inspected the car and determined the rear window was shot, and the car’s rear end had bullet holes. She returned to Metairie and filed a complaint at the Sheriff’s Office’s 1st District station.

Her father later took the car to a body shop for repairs from the gunfire. A service technician found that bullets not only pierced the car’s body, but they had also lodged in the spare tire in the trunk.

The Sheriff’s Office gathered the ballistics material from the car. The bullets were linked to the Kenner shooting.

For shooting at the Algiers woman, Barrette was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property.

June 17, 2019, 11:12 p.m.

Isia Franciso Cadalzo-Sevilla, 22, of Metairie, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze east on West Metairie Avenue when Barrette shot at him from his SUV. The car Cadalzo-Sevilla was driving left the roadway and struck a tree at Henry Landry Drive.

His face hidden behind a mask, Barrette stopped in the roadway, got out of his SUV, reloaded his pistol and shot Cadalzo-Sevilla – and in the process, he dropped his cell phone. Caldalzo-Sevilla suffered 12 gunshot wounds and later died at a hospital.

An expert in crime scene reconstruction testified that Barrette’s first gunshots, fired from within his SUV, likely led Cadalzo-Sevilla to drive off the roadway and into the tree.

While at the homicide scene, detectives heard music rising from the West Metairie drainage canal bank. It was the cell phone. The Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit later determined that the mobile device belonged to Barrette.

The Digital Forensic Unit investigators also discovered that in the early morning of June 17, Barrette made an entry in his cell phone memo app: “June 17-grimest day of 2019.”

The ballistics data gathered by the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab was entered in the NIBIN database, with the results linking Barrette’s pistol to this shooting.

For killing Caldalzo-Sevilla, Barrette was convicted of second-degree murder.

June 18, 2019, 4:16 p.m.

Manuel Caronia, 45, of Metairie, and Nicky Robeau, 57, of Harahan, were traveling in a 2008 Chevrolet Escalade east in the 8600 block of West Metairie Avenue when Barrette. drove alongside them. Caronia was driving.

Barrette extended his pistol out of his passenger’s window and began shooting. A witness frantically called 911, reporting that the SUV driver was shooting at another vehicle.

Deputies found the Escalade stopped in the eastbound lanes, its driver’s side riddled with bullet holes. Both Caronia and Robeau were shot twice and died at the scene.

Ballistics data the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab obtained from a bullet removed from Caronia’s body was entered in the NIBIN database. That bullet was fired by Barrette’s .40-caliber pistol, investigators determined.

For killing Caronia and Robeau, Barrette was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.

Insanity Defense

At trial, Barrette’s attorneys argued that he has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and twice involuntarily committed for mental illness before his crime spree. The attorneys suggested that his behavioral changes, which his family noticed later in his life, could be rooted in the blows to his head he experienced playing football in high school and at the handful of colleges he attended.

To find Barrette not guilty by reason of insanity, the jury first had to find that he has a mental disease or defect, and second, that the disease or defect hindered his ability to determine right from wrong.

In rebuttal, the prosecution provided the testimony of Dr. Gina Manguno-Mire, a forensic psychologist. She found that Barrette has mental illness, but not a qualifying mental disease or defect as required under state law.

“It was more along the lines of a serious personality disorder and a substance abuse disorder,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified Friday. “Neither of those things I diagnosed Mr. Barrette with would interfere with his ability to determine that what he was doing was wrong.”

As part of her evaluation, Dr. Manguno-Mire reviewed numerous records related to his mental health. These include “progress notes” written by staffers who interacted with Barrette during his pre-trial commitment at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System hospital in East Feliciana Parish. Jurors were shown the notes.

While there, Barrette indicated he was aware that what he did was wrong but would game the criminal justice system so he could be released. On one occasion, a staffer noted a discussion with Barrette during which he said he would intentionally fail a mental evaluation test “so I can get NGBRI” (not guilty by reason of insanity). He said he would be sent to a group home “and then home.”

“I know that killing those people was wrong but I’m to [sic] young to go to prison. I wouldn’t make it,” the hospital staffer quoted Barrette as saying.

Dr. Manguno-Mire discounted the two involuntary commitments in 2018 and 2019 and highlighted that most of the information contained in the records from those hospital stays were from statements made by Barrette’s family members and not from symptoms observed by medical professionals.

“Not one, and I mean one, psychotic symptom was ever noted by any professional observing Barrette. Not a lone, solitary one,” Assistant DA Grate told jurors.

To help her reach her conclusions that Barrette knew right from wrong, Dr. Manguno-Mire looked at evidence of his behavior at the time of his crime spree.

During the period of the shootings, his family noted nothing was amiss. He fled the scenes of the crimes. After the Kenner shooting, he used back streets to return to his home instead of using I-10 to avoid being seen. He kept his crimes quiet, returning to his home afterward as though nothing had happened. On the day he killed the two men, he chatted with his sister about his new hair style.

On the night of his arrest, Barrette spent almost two hours in an interview room at the Sheriff’s Office. He was alone for most of that time in that room, which was equipped with video cameras. He exhibited no signs of psychosis, Dr. Manguno-Mire noted after watching the video recording.

“He was calm,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified. “He was seated throughout the entire time he was in the room. He was well-dressed. He was well-groomed. … During that time, he engaged in no bizarre behavior.”

The jury that was seated on Wednesday returned with its verdicts at 9:30 p.m.

Judge Jacqueline Maloney of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for Wednesday (June 18).

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case.

 

Week roundup: In unrelated child sex abuse cases, Kenner man gets 30-year sentence, Metairie man convicted

One man was sentenced to prison and another was convicted on Thursday (June 12) for sexually abusing children in unrelated cases filed in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court.

 

Oscar Reyes

Oscar Reyes, 63, of Kenner, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing a 9-year-old child.

Reyes was convicted by a jury on May 15 of sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13. Reyes was not a stranger to the child.

The victim’s mother reported the abuse to the Kenner Police Department in September 2021, after her child disclosed Reyes’ abusive behavior when the child was between the ages of 7 and 9.

The victim further disclosed Reyes’ acts during a forensic medical examination at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (now named the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s), and to a forensic interviewer at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center. Kenner police arrested Reyes in October 2021.

Jurors deliberated for more than four hours before reaching their unanimous verdicts on May 15. Judge Danyelle Taylor sentenced Reyes to 30 years for the sexual battery charge and 10 years for the indecent behavior with a juvenile charge. Judge Taylor ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Cullen Kiker and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case.

 

Thomas L. Smith

Thomas L. Smith, 42, of Marrero, was convicted by a jury of sexual battery of a child under age 13 and indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13. Smith was not a stranger to the child.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened its investigation on May 10, 2022, after receiving a call from West Jefferson Medical Center concerning allegations raised by a 12-year-old who said Smith had abused the child. The child’s mother sought medical attention after learning of the abuse.

The child underwent a forensic interview at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center in May 2022, then a medical examination at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (now named the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s) in October 2022. The child’s statements in both places were consistent with what was disclosed to a detective.

The detective obtained an arrest warrant on June 14, 2022. He was arrested on March 3. 2023.

Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant set sentencing for June 30.

Assistant District Attorneys Brendan Bowen and Mallory Grefer prosecuted the case.

Thomas Welty sentenced to 30 years for sexually abusing, trafficking teen girls

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (June 12) sentenced Thomas Welty to 30 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing two teenaged girls, both of whom were given illegal narcotics so he could control them.

Welty, 46, a former Metairie resident, was convicted by a jury on May 27 of second-degree rape and trafficking children for sexual purposes involving one victim; and indecent behavior with a juvenile, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual battery of the other victim.

Click here to read about the trial.

The crimes occurred between 2019 and 2021. Both victims were 15 years old when Welty began abusing them.

One of the victims, whose association with Welty lead to an addiction to methamphetamine and who was sexually abused not only by Welty but by two of his friends who have not been identified, provided a written victim-impact statement that was read aloud by Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb.

“I choose to forgive what you’ve done, but not for you,” the victim wrote. “I’m forgiving you for myself, because at the end of the day I need to heal – not you.

“I was so grateful to learn that every seven years, every cell in your entire body is being replaced,” she added. “And with that being said, how great is it to know that I will finally have a body you will have never touched.”

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th judicial District Court sentenced Welty to 30 years for second-degree rape, 30 years for trafficking children for sexual purposes, seven years for indecent behavior of juveniles, 10 years for contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and 10 years for sexual battery.

She ran the sentences concurrently. Additionally, she issued a stay-away order prohibiting any contact with the victims that is in effect for 100 years, and she ordered that he register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

After announcing the sentences, Judge Kovach addressed the two victims, telling them that they “testified extremely creditably,” and that their “bravery impressed the court.”

“I just wanted to say you’re both incredibly strong women,” Judge Kovach told them.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Larry Davis sentenced to 120 years in prison for armed robbery spree

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (May 30) sentenced Larry Davis to 120 years in prison for his conviction of robbing four people at three businesses in one day, including a drug store in Metairie and two discount retail stores on the West Bank. 

A jury on May 14 deliberated for 25 minutes in convicting Davis, 56, of New Orleans, as charged of four counts of armed robbery with a firearm, all of which occurred on March 28, 2019.  

Davis began the armed robbery spree just before 3:30 a.m., in the 1700 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie. Davis, his face mostly covered with a cloth and dressed in black clothing, entered the drug store armed with a small, silver semiautomatic pistol.  

He robbed the cashier of money in the register and a customer of his credit card as he was attempting to pay for his items. Davis ran out of the store with the register till and fled in a white pickup truck. 

About six hours later, at 9:25 a.m., Davis entered a discount retail store in the 8900 block of the Westbank Expressway in Bridge City, wearing all black clothing. He asked the cashier for cigarettes. As she turned with the cigarettes, Davis brandished a small, silver semiautomatic pistol and demanded money. He fled with the register till in a white pickup truck. 

Just over 10 hours later, at 7:40 p.m., Davis, again wearing dark clothing, entered a discount retail store in the 3800 block of U.S. 90 in Avondale. He asked the cashier for a pack of cigarettes and then brandished a small, silver semiautomatic pistol. And again, he fled in a white pickup truck.  

Even before the third robbery occurred, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives had Davis’s and the getaway driver Israel Johnathan Freeman’s names as their suspects, after their fingerprints were lifted from the register till taken in the Metairie armed robbery. An off-duty Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy happened to find that till in the street about a mile from the drug store. The Sheriff’s Office also advised deputies to be on the lookout for the white Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck. 

Less than an hour after the third robbery, a deputy who was working an off-duty detail in the Avondale area – and who also was involved in the investigation of the day’s second robbery — spotted the suspect white pickup truck. That deputy attempted to stop the pickup and called for assistance. 

The robbers led deputies and detectives in a pursuit across the Huey P. Long Bridge, traveling at more than 90 mph. The deputies lost sight of the robbers at Clearview Parkway and Airline Drive. Moments later, a citizen called 911, reporting that the pickup was abandoned at North Woodlawn Avenue and Flamingo Street. During the canvas of that area, a detective caught Davis in the 100 block of Houma Boulevard.  

Davis’s trial began on May 12. He was in court during the first day, but he refused to leave the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna to attend the remainder of his 3-day trial. 

On Friday, Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Davis to 30 years in prison for each of the four armed robbery counts. Each count includes a 5-year firearm enhancement, because Davis was armed with the pistol in robbing the four victims. 

Freeman, 35, of New Orleans, who is Davis’s co-defendant, eluded deputies during the day of the robberies and was arrested in Centerville, Miss., on April 10, 2019. He pleaded guilty as charged in September 2019 before Judge Steib. Freeman received a 15-year sentence. 

Assistant District Attorneys Theresa King and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case.