[StBernard] Prisoner escaped, stole car to visit mom on Mother's Day weekend

[Westley Annis]

Prisoner escaped, stole car to visit mom on Mother's Day weekend 
wwltv.com

Posted on May 7, 2010 at 9:22 PM


CHALMETTE, La. - A prisoner on a work-release program in Houma stole a car
and escaped from the group in what he said was an attempt to visit his
mother in Chalmette for Mother's Day weekend, according to a spokesman for
the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office.

Richard Ford, 50, who had been serving time for burglary and a
carjacking-related offense, was in the second year of a four-year sentence.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Cannizaro said Ford got away from the
work-release group Friday and stole a 2005 Lincoln and area law enforcement
agencies were immediately alerted.

Cannizaro said a sheriff's deputy spotted the stolen car in Chalmette with
Ford behind the wheel. He was stopped in the 2000 block of Rosetta Drive.

According to Cannizaro, Ford said he had returned to Chalmette to visit his
mother on the holiday weekend.

Ford was booked into St. Bernard Parish Prison, charged with escape, auto
theft, possession of the stolen vehicle, being a felon in illegal possession
of a firearm - a .25-cal. semiautomatic found in the vehicle -  and with
having an open can of beer in the car. It wasn't clear where the gun came
from.