Three teenagers were arrested by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s deputies early Thursday morning (March 14) following a high speed chase in a stolen car.
Those same three teenagers confessed to numerous vehicle burglaries that occurred earlier this week.
Shortly after 1:45 a.m. Thursday, STPSO deputies were responding to a report of a vehicle burglary in progress in the Greenleaves subdivision near Mandeville, when they observed a suspicious vehicle without a license plate leaving the area. Deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop and the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed onto Louisiana Highway 59.
As the vehicle attempted to enter the on ramp of Interstate 12 the vehicle exited the roadway and crashed. Two of the occupants, 18-year-old Edwin J. Holderness of Covington, and a 17-year-old female from Abita Springs, were taken into custody as they attempted to flee by running across the interstate on foot. The driver, a 16-year-old male from Covington, was later located hiding in an area off Little Creek Road.
The vehicle that the teens were driving was discovered to have been stolen Wednesday night from a Covington-area apartment complex after it was left unlocked with the keys inside.
While searching the vehicle, deputies located numerous items that had been reported stolen earlier in the week out of vehicles in the Arrow Wood and Ingram Estates neighborhoods.
The teens have confessed to committing those vehicle burglaries.
It is also believed they attempted to steal another vehicle out of Covington-area church parking lot Wednesday night (March 13) before stealing the vehicle they were driving at the time of the pursuit.
The 16-year-old driver was arrested on the following charges:
L.R.S. 32:51 License Plate Required
L.R.S. 14:108.1 Aggravated Flight from an Officer
L.R.S. 14:96 Obstruction of Highway
L.R.S. 32:52 No Driver’s License
L.R.S. 14:67.26 Theft of a Motor Vehicle
L.R.S. 14:62C Vehicle Burglaries (6 counts)
Holderness and the 17-year-old female were arrested on the following charges:
L.R.S. 14:108 Resisting an Officer
L.R.S. 14:67:26 Theft of a Motor Vehicle
L.R.S. 14:62C Vehicle Burglaries (6 counts)
Holderness has been booked in to the St. Tammany Parish Jail, and the juveniles were transported to the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center.
The investigation is ongoing. Detectives expect additional victims will be discovered as they process the recovered property, and additional charges are possible. If you believe you may be a victim of a vehicle burglary and have not filed a report, please contact Detective Penton at 985-276-1351.