2010: Crime and Convictions

Several out of state men were arrested and charged with aggravated burglary, false imprisonment and simple battery of the infirmed for their part in a home invasion in Benton.  The men broke in on a 68 year-old woman and robbed her.
Ricardo Aleman Palos, Juan Jose Martinez-Flores, Mark William McKinney
Gerardo Cortina & Miguel "Bear" Escutia are still incarcerated at Bossier Max awaiting trial.

Murder most foul

The most heinous crime of 2010 was the murder of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom, whose body was found in the woods near Stonewall in March
A known sex offender, Brian Douglas Horn, is in custody awaiting trial.
Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle believes that the scenario that Horn played out was to tell Justin that if he wanted to meet in person, 'she' would send a cab to pick him up. Horn, a driver for Action Taxi, then drove to the residence were Justin was spending the night and picked him up.
Further evidence shows that the 12 year old was smothered to death, dying of asphyxiation, and then was left face down in about a foot of water. It appears that Justin was struggling for his life, but was overcome by the 34 year old Horn.

In March, Ronald Lee Broset robbed Citizens National Bank on Benton Road.
He returned two weeks later and robbed the same bank, but this time he was caught, with the money.

Charles Pilkinton entered a guilty plea to Negligent Homicide in May in the murder of 66 year old Raymond Tobin. Tobin was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car on Inda Drive shot twice in the back of the head. According to reports, when police arrived at the scene Pilkinton admitted to killing Tobin.
After explaining all of the rights and determining that the plea was voluntary, Judge Bolin accepted the plea and sentenced Pilkinton to 5 years at hard labor.
The prosecution was represented by Clifford Strider, Assistant Attorney General.

The body of 39 year old Nancy Miller was found in Red Chute Bayou. Miller had been missing since March 3rd.
A witness reported seeing Miller walk into Reflections on Hwy 80. She appeared to be confused and turned around and walked out across Hwy 80 toward the Westbound Lane. Canine trackers confirmed the story of the witness. At the time, investigators believed that she may have gotten into a car with someone.
The body was spotted by fishermen on Red Chute Bayou near Louisiana Downs

The Caddo Parish Sheriff's office arrested Bobbie Luttrell for paying to have her husband, Ernest Luttrell, killed. She was taken in and arrested right after his funeral and charged with 1st degree murder. Luttrell allegedly used a part time housekeeper and her acquaintance to carry out the crime.

In August, A 33 year old Shreveport man was arrested for gunning down 3 brothers, aged 20, 18 & 13 because he thought they stole an X-Box from his girlfriend. All three were dead at the scene.
Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said "You can have all the tent revivals you want and ask people to not be violent and go to classes, but you can't get through to some of these idiots. No amount of patrol cars could have stopped this. The only thing that could have stopped this is if he wasn't born.
I've been doing this 37 years and looking at bodies, and it gets old."
Marcus Donte' Reed is being charged with 3 counts of 1st degree murder.
The victims were identified as Jean Adams, Jarquis Adams & Jeremiah Adams.

Judge Jeff Cox accepted an amended plea in the Matthew Fite case. Fite pled guilty to Distribution of Methamphetines and was sentenced to 30 years, with no probation or parole for the first 2 years, subject to time served (which is just over 2 years).
To rehash the case a little, Fite bought drugs from Paul Martin and then gave Dorothy Gail Wilson some of the meth and a needle so she could shoot up. Wilson overdosed and died. An autopsy revealed that she had no other drugs in her system.
Martin pled guilty in March of last year and was sentenced to 25 years, all but 12 suspended, to run concurrent with sentencing from Caddo Parish.

Steven Rivers was charged in Caddo Parish for the murder of his ex-wife and her sister.

Two people have been arrested in another home invasion/robbery in Benton.
Randall Wayne Womack, Jr & Joshua Lopez & David Allen Weeks, Jr were charged with armed robbery.
The three entered (okay, I know 'allegedly'), anyway, the three entered a residence on Old Plain Dealing Road armed with a sword and a billy club and stole a whopping $132.
Womack and Weeks both have criminal history in Bossier Parish.

There has been a lot of speculation about the shooting of Vivian attorney John Morneau. Miller County Coroner Eddie Hawkins Jr first ruled that Morneau was shot in the back by a Miller County Deputy Sheriff.
He then changed his story to say that Morneau was shot in the chest.
Hawkins would not go into specifics about why that was done, except to say there was a mistake. The Miller County DA is supposedly investigating.

On November 16th Lance Thamm entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 17 month-old daughter Isabella.
Thamm slammed Isabella’s head into a doorjam when she wouldn’t stop crying.
Thamm has a history of drug use and domestic violence. He and his wife lost a son in Texas because of abuse. That child, a boy, is being raised by an aunt.


Then, of course, there was Chubbygate

The arrest of Bossier City Council Member James "Chubby" Knight on charges of bank fraud has, needless to say, created a lot of conversation and speculation.
"I've never done anything illegal," Bossier City Councilman Chubby Knight told KSLA.
Not so, says the Bossier City Police Department and the 26th JDC District Attorney.
The Police Department began their investigation when the bank that cashed the bogus check for Knight filed a complaint.
Knight’s attorney said that they know who is behind this ‘political vendetta’ to get Knight, but he’s not telling. According to the Times, the attorney said "This is all driven by the Bossier power bosses . . . . that machine wants you to know if you cross it, ... it will erase you, even your memory."