[StBernard] Chalmette man accused of attempted robbery in Slidell

[Westley Annis]

Chalmette man accused of attempted robbery in Slidell

Published: Monday, December 20, 2010, 5:25 PM     Updated: Monday, December
20, 2010, 5:32 PM

 By Times-Picayune Staff 

A Chalmette man was arrested Monday after he allegedly tried to rob a gas
station in Slidell.

Sidney Bothman IV, 21, of 2129 Brigade Drive, was booked with attempted
armed robbery by Slidell Police.

A 50-year-old clerk at Murphy's gas station inside the Walmart parking lot
on Natchez Street told police she was preparing to open the business shortly
before 5 a.m. when a man dressed in black and wearing a black ski mask began
beating on the window of her small booth, demanding money, Assistant Police
Chief Kevin Foltz said. The woman told him that she didn't have any money,
but the man continued to beat on the window and pointed a semi-automatic
handgun at her, Foltz said.

The woman turned her back to the man and called 9-1-1 from her cell phone,
but the gunman left before police arrived a short time later.

At 5:08 a.m. St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputies James Stelfox and Debra
Vines saw a man fitting the description of the gunman driving a Ford pickup
in the 1300 block of Gause Boulevard, Foltz said. The deputies stopped the
truck and questioned the man, who was wearing black clothing and had a black
beanie cap on his head.

Deputies found a semi-automatic handgun in the truck, and after further
questioning, Bothman admitted to the crime, giving no reason for the
attempted robbery, Foltz said.

Bothman, who had no prior arrest record, was being held Monday at the St.
Tammany Parish jail in Covington.