[StBernard] Two men booked with simple kidnapping in Chalmette, authorities say

[Westley Annis]

Two men booked with simple kidnapping in Chalmette, authorities say
Published: Monday, October 11, 2010, 6:21 PM     Updated: Monday, October
11, 2010, 6:22 PM
 The Times-Picayune 
 
Two Plaquemines Parish men have been booked with simple kidnapping and
battery after allegedly forcing an 18-year-old Chalmette woman into a
vehicle early Monday. The woman escaped and got the license number of the
vehicle, which she reported to St. Bernard Parish authorities who stopped
the vehicle a short time later.

The Sheriff's Office said Merlin Encalade, 49, and Kevin Encalade, 46, both
of 17165 Louisiana 15, Pointe a la Hache, were arrested around 2:30 a.m.
Monday after deputies spotted their vehicle. The pair remained in St.
Bernard Parish prison Monday evening pending an appearance before a judge.

The men told authorities the woman got into the vehicle willingly, without
any physical struggle, the Sheriff's Office said.

The Sheriff's Office spokesman did not know late Monday if the Encalades
were related.
Merlin Encalade is a registered sex offender, who had been charged with
sexual battery in Plaquemines Parish in 2004, the Sheriff's Office said. In
2009 he was charged with two counts of failing to register as a sex offender
in Plaquemines, the Sheriff's Office said.

The woman told investigators she had left an Arabi restaurant when two men
in a sport utility vehicle asked her to go to breakfast with them. She told
investigators that she told the men no, but that both men eventually got out
of the vehicle and forced her into it. They then drove toward New Orleans.

Inside the vehicle, one of the men offered her money, the woman told
authorities. The woman told investigators she was able to flee the vehicle
after the driver stopped in a restaurant parking lot on St. Claude Avenue in
Arabi to get into the backseat with her. She ran into the restaurant, where
the Sheriff's Office was notified.