Tag: carjacking

Damon Bryant gets 515 years, Destin Smith gets 227 years in armed robbery spree and homicide

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (Feb. 10) sentenced a pair of West Bank half-bothers to hundreds of years in prison for their convictions for committing a string of armed robberies, and a shooting that left a Terrytown man dead.

Destin Smith, 26, of Algiers, and Damon Bryant, 28, of Avondale, were convicted by a jury on Jan. 31 of numerous charges in connection with the 2017 crime spree.

Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Smith to 227 years in prison and Bryant to 515 years in prison.

“I have to tell you that what you two did in this parish and in other parishes, I mean, we might as well go back in time and call you Bonnie and Clyde, we might as well call you Dillinger, we might as well call you a whole bunch of names, because you have no regard for human life. You terrorized them. That’s what you did. You terrorized these people, you with a shotgun, you with a handgun.”

Smith was convicted of manslaughter in the death of James Thomas Jr., 36. A De Le Salle High School graduate and father of a young son who drove a delivery truck for UPS, Thomas was shot outside his Terrytown apartment when Smith tried to carjack him.

“He lived with integrity and purpose,” Thomas’ mother said Tuesday in victim-impact testimony during the sentencing hearing. “And he was taken from me. … We had just exchanged messages while I was on a cruise. His last words to me were, ‘When are you coming home?’ I didn’t know that would be our final conversation.”

Smith additionally was convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and obstruction of justice. The jury acquitted Smith of five counts of armed robbery.

Smith’s later crimes in part were carried out to raise money to post bail for his half-brother and co-defendant during the 5-day-long the trial, Damon Bryant.

Bryant, 28, of Avondale, was convicted of carjacking and five counts of armed robbery.

A look at the crime spree shows:

  • At about 1:10 a.m., on July 11, 2017, a 24-year-old woman was seated in her boyfriend’s 2011 Mercury Sable in the 900 block of East Monterey Court in Terrytown. As she scrolled through Facebook on her mobile device, two men physically removed her from the car and drove away in it. Several hours later, her boyfriend found his car at an apartment complex in the 2300 block of Park Place Drive – where a relative of Bryant and Smith lived and where Thomas was later shot and killed. Bryant’s DNA was recovered from the steering wheel, leading to his arrest three weeks later. He was convicted of carjacking as a result. Judge Rowan on Tuesday sentenced Bryant to 20 years in prison to be served at hard labor.
  • Late on the morning of July 20, 2017, an employee of a breakfast restaurant in the 500 block of Behrman Highway in Terrytown was cleaning behind the business when he noticed two suspicious men approaching. As the employee attempted to use his cell phone to call the manager inside, the suspects forced him at gunpoint to knock on the rear door. When the manager opened it, the suspects forced their way inside, robbed a 32-year-old woman and a 29-year-old woman and got away with more than $2,600. At trial, jurors acquitted Smith of two counts of armed robbery. They convicted Bryant of two counts of armed robbery. Bryant was sentenced Tuesday to 99 years in prison for each count, for a total of 198 years in prison to be served at hard labor.
  • On the night of July 27, 2017, a 27-year-old woman was getting out of her 2013 Nissan Versa at her home in the 2900 block of North Monterey Court in Terrytown when two suspects approached her intent on robbing her. She dropped her purse and car keys, and the suspects fled with them in her car. Jurors acquitted Smith of armed robbery and convicted Bryant of the charge. Bryant was sentenced to 99 years in prison for robbing this woman, to be served at hard labor.
  • Bryant immediately drove the stolen Versa across the Huey P. Long Bridge to a restaurant where he once worked in the 2900 block of South Clearview Parkway in Elmwood. The stolen car was picked up by the license place recognition system, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. They hopped a fence in the rear of the restaurant and at gunpoint forced two employees – a 42-year-old man and a 43-year-old man – into the office. They fled with more than $2,200 in cash. Bryant cut his right hand when hopping the fence and left blood droplets inside the business, including on the jacket worn by one of the victims – and into the stolen car when fleeing. Smith was charged with being Bryant’s accomplice, but jurors acquitted him. was convicted of two counts of armed robbery. On Tuesday, Bryant was sentenced to 99 years for each count, for a total of 198 years, to be served at hard labor.

A week after robbing the Elmwood restaurant, Bryant was arrested after he shot a man in Boutte, in St. Charles Parish, when attempting to rob him. Bryant spotted that man withdrawing a large amount of cash at a Jefferson Parish bank and then followed him to St. Charles Parish to attempt to rob him. He subsequently was linked to the Jefferson Parish crimes in part based on his DNA being recovered in the stolen Mercury Sable, the stolen Versa and inside the Elmwood restaurant.

After Bryant’s arrest, Smith continued the crime spree in Jefferson and Orleans parishes, in part to raise cash for Bryant’s bail and criminal defense. Smith carried out some of these crimes with his sister’s then-boyfriend, Devante J. Mays, 27, of New Orleans. Mays, who was charged separately, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and two counts of attempted armed robbery in August 2019 in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.

A look at Smith’s ongoing crime spree shows:

  • On the morning of Aug. 12, 2017, James Thomas Jr. walked to his BMW parked near his apartment in the 2300 block of Park Place Drive. Standing next to his car, he encountered Smith, who was armed with a .20-gauge shotgun. During the carjacking attempt, Smith shot Thomas once in the left thigh. Smith fled to a relative’s apartment in the complex. Thomas died a short while later at a New Orleans hospital. “James was a big, gentle Teddy bear. He would give you the shirt off his back,” Thomas’ fiancée said in victim-impact testimony on Wednesday. Smith was charged with second-degree murder, but jurors convicted him of the lesser homicide charge of manslaughter. Smith was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison.
  • Hours later, on the night of Aug. 12, 2017, two employees were at a discount store in the 7400 block of the Westbank Expressway – a 39-year-old woman and a 21-year-old woman – when two gunmen approached the front door. The business had been closed for the day, so the doors were locked. The gunmen were unable to get inside. Smith was convicted of two counts of attempted armed robbery and was sentenced Tuesday to 49 years in prison for each count, for a total of 98 years in prison. Mays separately pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted armed robbery.
  • On Aug. 12 and Aug. 13, 2017, a man in New Orleans East, a discount store in the Lower 9th Ward, a woman and her cab driver in Algiers and two employees and a customer at a breakfast restaurant in Algiers were robbed. Jurors in the Jefferson Parish trial heard testimony about the crimes that were committed in Orleans Parish, which formed the basis for the conspiracy to commit armed robbery charge in the Jefferson Parish case. In the New Orleans East robbery, the victim reported having his 2008 Mazda CX9 stolen. That vehicle was later recovered near Smith’s residence on Bacchus Street in Algiers. In it, police recovered a spent .20-gauge shotgun shell that was ballistically matched to the shotgun used to kill James Thomas Jr., in Terrytown. These crimes are the basis for Smith’s being convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was sentenced Tuesday to 49 years in prison. Mays previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery. In the Orleans Parish cases, Smith and Mays also pleaded guilty in 2019 to committing nine counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery in Criminal District Court. Smith received a 12-year sentence and Mays was sentenced to 15 years by a New Orleans judge.
  • Smith also was convicted of obstruction of justice for getting rid of the .20-gauge shotgun he used to kill Thomas. For this, he was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison.

New Orleans Police Department detectives who were investigating the spate of armed robberies arrested Smith and Mays in the Bacchus Street residence in Algiers on Aug. 14, 2017. Victims’ property from several of the robberies was recovered there, linking them to the crimes.

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

William Frye sentenced to 65 years for bank robbery, carjacking and kidnapping

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Oct. 9) sentenced William Frye to 65 years in prison for his convictions of robbing a Jefferson bank and then forcibly taking a grandmother’s car with her 18-year-old daughter in the back seat as he made his getaway.

Frye, 47, was convicted as charged last month of two counts of simple robbery, carjacking and second-degree kidnapping in connection with the Nov. 30, 2022 crimes.

“I do believe you’re a menace to the good people of Jefferson Parish,” 24th Judicial District Court Judge Frank Brindisi told Frye. “On that day, you were a one-man crime wave. You terrorized everybody.”

Click here to read about the trial.

Frye entered the bank branch in the 3600 block of Jefferson Highway about 1:15 p.m., threatening to harm the tellers if they did not give him cash. He fled on foot with cash and carjacked the woman and her two grandchildren outside a business in the 3500 block of Berwick Street.

The teen who was in the back seat of that vehicle jumped out a back door and suffered a broken pelvis as she landed in the street.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives and FBI agents tracked Frye to an Airline Drive motel and arrested him later that day.

Frye’s criminal history dates back to the early 1990s and includes a conviction in federal court of robbing the same bank branch he was convicted of robbing last month, the judge noted said before announcing his sentencing, citing a pre-sentencing memorandum.

“I don’t think you can be rehabilitated,” Judge Brindisi told Frye. “I think you’re an incorrigible criminal.”

Judge Brindisi sentenced Frye to 35 years for the kidnapping, 20 years for the carjacking and five years for each of the two simple robbery counts. He ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 65 years.

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

 

 

William Frye guilty in Jefferson bank robbery, carjacking, kidnapping

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated less than an hour on Wednesday evening (Sept. 25) in finding William Frye guilty of robbing a Jefferson Highway bank before forcibly taking a car from a nearby family and speeding away with a teenager in the back seat.

Frye, 47, of Jefferson’s Shrewsbury neighborhood, was convicted as charged of two counts of simple robbery, carjacking and second-degree kidnapping.

Wearing a hooded shirt and erratically waving a white pillowcase, Frye stormed into a bank branch in the 3600 block of Jefferson Highway at about 1:15 p.m., on Nov. 30, 2022, threatening deadly violence and demanding that the tellers turn over cash.

He threw the pillowcase at two tellers, ordering them both to fill it. They complied. He then fled on foot, dumping his gloves, the pillowcase and the hoodie in a Sizeler Avenue back yard before hopping a resident’s fence and emerging in the 3500 block of Berwick Street.

At that time, a woman and two family members arrived at a Berwick Street business. The woman alone had exited the car but left the engine running. Frye jumped into the driver’s seat, rebuffing another family member’s attempts to physically remove him.

Frye sped away with an 18-year-old woman in the back seat. About 25 yards away, the terrified teenager jumped out of a back door, breaking her pelvis and she hit the roadway.

After striking a parked car and continuing, Frye abandoned the car less than a mile away, at Scott Street and Saia Lane. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which launched a manhunt that included the agency’s helicopter, quickly obtained information identifying Frye as the suspect.

Detectives and FBI agents tracked Frye to a motel in the 5700 block of Airline Drive, where he had been renting a room. After conducting surveillance, agents located Frye walking out of the room. When he saw the law enforcement officers, Frye fled on foot. He was captured a short distance away.

Frye left the motel that morning, telling the manager he would pay for his room that day but that he had to go to the bank, first. Detectives later obtained images from the motel’s security system of Frye leaving the business that morning. He wore the same clothing as the robber.

In Frye’s pocket when he was arrested, detectives found cash that was directly linked to what was stolen from the bank. In the motel room he occupied, detectives found cash stuffed under the mattress. One of the white pillowcases was missing.

Further, the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab found Frye’s DNA on the steering wheel of the car he stole and in one of the gloves he wore during the robbery, which he dumped in the Sizeler Avenue backyard.

From her hospital room, where she underwent surgery, the teenaged kidnapping victim read an online news report about the bank robbery that included Frye’s booking mugshot. She alerted detectives, confirming that Frye was the carjacker.

Frye denied committing the crimes. His attorney argued that the Sheriff’s Office arrested the wrong suspect.

The jury, which was seated Tuesday and heard two days of testimony, deliberated 49 minutes before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Frye on Wednesday (Oct. 2).

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

Tonny Bauer convicted of carjacking woman at Metairie pizzeria

A Jefferson Parish jury Wednesday night (March 8) found Tonny J. Bauer guilty of carjacking for forcibly removing a 58-year-old woman from her vehicle moments after she purchased pizzas.

It was about 8 p.m., on May 8, 2020, when Bauer, 37, entered the victim’s 2021 Nissan Rogue through the passenger-side door outside a pizza business in the 5000 block of West Esplanade Avenue.

The victim walked out of the business with her pizzas and noticed Bauer crouching down nearby, she told the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. She entered her Rogue and placed the pizzas on the passenger’s seat. That’s when Bauer entered the vehicle.

He choked the victim as she tried to flee. After she escaped, Bauer drove away. About a half-hour later, Causeway police responded to a one-vehicle wreck in the southbound lanes of the Causeway bridge. Police determined it was the stolen vehicle, and after he appeared to attempt to climb the bridge’s railing, Bauer was arrested.

Police also found the victim’s pizza in the car. It was still hot and partially eaten.

Bauer alleged self-defense, saying he was at his home near the pizza business when he thought someone was breaking into the house. Leaving his shoes and eyeglasses behind, Bauer asserted that he ran to the pizza business and got into the victim’s car in thinking she could help him.

Jurors deliberated less than 1 ½ hours before returning with their unanimous verdict. Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Bauer on March 22.

Assistant District Attorneys Carolyn Chkautovich and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case.

Maurice Ervin sentenced to 55 years for Harahan carjacking conviction

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Sept. 19) sentenced Maurice Ervin to 55 years in prison for his conviction of carjacking a couple in East Jefferson.

Ervin, 16, who was prosecuted as an adult, was convicted as charged last week of two counts of armed robbery with a firearm in connection with the Feb. 12 incident.

Armed with a pistol and wearing a ski mask, Ervin was seen trying to enter apartments in the 1900 block of Hickory Avenue. His activities led residents to call 911.

Meanwhile, a man and woman stopped their vehicle on Hickory Avenue so he could take photographs of roof work in the area. The couple was preparing to replace their roof because of Hurricane Ida damage.

The man stepped out of his vehicle to take photos of a home’s roof, leaving his wife in the passenger seat. That’s when Ervin jumped into the driver’s seat. The woman attempted to grab her cell phone, and Ervin pointed the pistol at her head and put the vehicle in reverse.

The man, meanwhile, was unaware of what was happening until he was getting back into his vehicle. Ervin then pointed the pistol at the man, who grabbed the gun barrel. The woman fled the vehicle. The man fell to the ground and was dragged by the driver’s door, and a tire ran over his left foot.

A nearby Good Samaritan witnessed what was happening and called 911. She then followed the vehicle until the Harahan Police Department and later the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office intervened.

Ervin led the officers on a pursuit onto Jefferson Highway, with Ervin speeding through a construction zone at the Huey P. Long Bridge and then driving against traffic before he wrecked into a utility pole and was arrested.

Following a two-day trial, a Jefferson Parish jury deliberated one hour before returning with its unanimous verdict on Wednesday (Sept. 14).

On Monday, Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Ervin to 50 years for each armed robbery count and five years for firearm enhancements, for a total of 55 years on each count. Judge Brindisi ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Stephen Downer prosecuted the case.