Richard handed two-year deal, $5,000 raise
April 10, 2007
Rose Dell Smith
April 13, 2007Lafourche Parish deputies arrested a Colfax man early Wednesday morning after he drove his vehicle through a yard and parked behind the Galliano Centroplex with intentions of having “relations” with his female passenger, a sheriff’s office spokesman reported.
Larry Weidel said deputies responded to the call and located the couple’s vehicle in a field behind the recreational complex. To reach the secluded spot, the driver had to travel through a yard on East 128th Street in Galliano.
Deputies arrested Tommy L. Watkins, 27, of 140 Watkins Lane, shortly after he informed them he had a firearm under the driver’s seat of his vehicle, Weidel said.
With Watkins’ voluntary consent, deputies found a small, loaded semi-automatic handgun in a black case. The gun contained a 30-round magazine fully loaded with 9mm hollow point bullets, the spokesman said.
A second weapon, a semi-automatic .380-caliber handgun, was found under the passenger seat, Weidel said. The serial numbers of the handgun had been filed off, he said.
Weidel said the .380-caliber gun was also loaded with seven rounds in the magazine.
Inside the vehicle, deputies also found a small green leafy substance, believed to be marijuana, inside the glove compartment of the vehicle. Weidel said Watkins told deputies the guns and marijuana belonged to him. All three items were seized as evidence.
Watkins was charged with possession of marijuana; criminal trespassing; possession of a firearm with obliterated numbers; and illegal carrying of weapons while in possession of Schedule I narcotics. He was booked at the South Lafourche Sub-station and transported to the Detention Center in Thibodaux.
State District Judge Bruce Simpson set his bond at $2,000.
Weidel said the maximum penalty for these offenses is up to 20 years in jail and more than $16,000 in fines.
The female passenger was released and not charged in this incident, he said.
