[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish missing 2,000 water meters

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish missing 2,000 water meters
By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
February 12, 2010, 8:19AM

The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating the theft of about
2,000 used water meters from a parish storage building on Wednesday. 

Each of the water meters weighs about 5 pounds and would be worth about $5,
according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office. The water meters were
taken from a storage building used by the parish's Water and Sewer Board. 

Anyone with information should call the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office at
504.271.2501 or Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 and could be eligible for a
reward.

In an unrelated incident, three men were arrested earlier this week in
connection with the theft of $10,000 worth of aluminum from a now-closed
machine shop in Chalmette, according to Chief Deputy James Pohlmann. 

Blake Rizzuto, 18, of Chalmette, and Blake Chenevert, 19, of Meraux, were
arrested and booked with business burglary stemming from a Feb. 4 break-in
in which the aluminum was trucked away in a pickup. A third man, Roger
Encalade, 30, of Chalmette, was booked with possession of stolen property.

Detectives checked several scrap yards in the area and found the aluminum
items described by the victim at a junk yard on Poland Avenue in New
Orleans. Deputies checked sales records to track down the suspects, Pohlmann
said.

Further investigation revealed similar aluminum found at a scrap yard in
Chalmette and that the victim's machine shop had been burglarized several
times before Feb. 4, the Sheriff's Office said.

Rizzuto was being held Thursday in the St. Bernard Prison in lieu of
$100,000 bond. Chenevert and Encalade are being held without bond pending an
appearance before a magistrate judge.