ILLEGAL DEER HUNTER ARRESTED AGAIN ON NEW CHARGES

Jimmie Chiasson
January 24, 2007
William Cooks Jr.
January 26, 2007
Jimmie Chiasson
January 24, 2007
William Cooks Jr.
January 26, 2007

A Bourg man arrested for illegally hunting a deer in Lafourche Parish earlier this month is in hot water with the local authorities again, a Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman reported Tuesday.


Ned Dantin, 38, of 4434 Hwy. 24, was arrested again Sunday and charged with receiving stolen things and obstruction of justice in connection with a boating accident last Thursday.

Public Information Officer Larry Weidel said a boater told the LPSO’s Water Patrol that his boat began to sink after he hit a large object under the water. The man and his two passengers were able to get the boat to the bank and secured it before it sank, the spokesman said.


Dantin, who happened onto the scene in a green aluminum boat with a camouflaged motor, helped anchor the boat on the shore, Weidel said. The Bourg man told the boaters he would be around if more help was needed, according to authorities.


The driver of the boat hit his head on the windshield when his craft wrecked and he had to seek medical treatment the night of the crash, Weidel said. But the following day, when the boat owner returned to retrieve his boat, he discovered several items were missing, including a fiberglass pirogue, an Interstate battery, an aluminum paddle, a stainless steel grapple hook, an orange fish gripper and two life jackets.

After the boat owner notified the sheriff’s office, Weidel said Water Patrol Deputy Teddy Granier found and marked the underwater obstructionnpossibly a sunken bargenand notified the Coast Guard of its location.


The boat owner identified a photograph of Dantin, and Granier went to the Bourg man’s home to ask him about the incident, Weidel said.


No one responded when Granier knocked on the door, he said. When the deputy went into the back yard, he spotted the aluminum boat and motor described by the men in the wrecked craft, Weidel said. The deputy also saw a grappling hook matching the description of the one missing.

In Dantin’s front yard, the deputy spotted a brown fiberglass pirogue with orange pliers, a blue life jacket and a new Interstate battery on the floor of the vessel, Weidel said.


When Granier knocked on the door a second time, Dantin’s wife answered but said the Bourg man was not at home, the spokesman said. When the deputy told the woman he was going to get a search warrant, Weidel said she quickly got Dantin to come out of the house and talk to the deputy.

After being advised of his rights, Dantin told Granier that the items were his, the spokesman said.

Granier told Dantin that the boat owner said he had handmade the grapple hook, the Bourg man went to his boat, threw the grapple hook into the middle of the bayou, Weidel said. Dantin and his wife then got into their car and left.

Backup LPSO and Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene and helped Granier retrieve the stolen items so the owner could identify them, Weidel said.

Despite several dives into the cold, muddy water, Granier was unable to pull the grapple hook from the bottom of the bayou, he said.

The boat owner confirmed the items retrieved from Dantin’s home were the stolen items, the spokesman said.

When Granier returned to Monday with a warrant for Dantin’s arrest, he was informed that the TPSO had him in custody and was holding him for questioning, Weidel explained.

Dantin was returned to Lafourche Parish for questioning, at which time he admitted to throwing the hook into the bayou, Weidel said. He also admitted he may have taken other items, but said he was “messed up on Xanax that night,” the spokesman said.

Dantin was booked on the warrants and transported to the Lafourche Parish Detention Center. State District Judge John LeBlanc set bond at $155,000.

Weidel said Dantin has an extensive criminal record, including the Jan. 5 arrest for criminal trespassing and possession of an illegally taken deer.