[StBernard] St. Bernard deputies arrest two parish employees for stealing light poles

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard deputies arrest two parish employees for stealing light poles

Reported by: Meg Gatto, Reporter Email: mgatto at fox8live.com
			
Print Story Published: 1/23 5:30 pm Share Updated: 1/23 7:11 pm 
Chalmette -- Deputies arrested two St. Bernard Parish public works employees
accused of stealing light poles and then re-selling them to a scrapyard for
cash. 

31-year-old Glenn Rocher and 53-year-old Rickey Diecidue both face charges
of theft.

All street-related materials, including light poles, are kept in the public
works yard on Paris Road.  "They were taken from the parish yard by parish
employees and what happens, nobody would think they're doing anything wrong,
except someone noticed something going on in the neighborhood and thought it
was a bit unusual and called the sheriff's department and we checked it
out," Sheriff-elect Jimmy Pohlmann explained.

What deputies found is that Diecidue and Rocher were allegedly taking the
poles to Rocher's backyard and then cutting them up.  The pieces were then
brought to WB Scrap Metal in Chalmette.

The people at WB Scrap Metal say aluminum isn't something people typically
bring in but depending on the grade you can get from 10 cents to 60 cents a
pound. 

Pohlmann says Rocher and Diecidue made $10,000.  But as Parish President
Dave Peralta takes stock of how much damage was done, he says light poles
may not be the only thing they stole. 

"We can't say for sure how many were taken by these two, we're missing quite
a few actually.  We're also doing an internal investigation on some
bleachers that have been reported missing as early as this weekend," Peralta
said.

Rocher and Diecidue have been fired from their jobs, and Peralta says
there's a possibility that more public works employees could've been
involved in the scheme.  

So, the sheriff's office is stepping up patrols.  Peralta explains, "The
sergeant that's assigned here is actually on the street right now doing some
security checks and figuring out how we're going to better secure the areas
where these items are located.  At the same time, we've spoken with the
sheriff's office, they're going to put heavy patrols in those areas to see
if we can't stop the activity that's going on right now." 

Peralta, who recently took office, says he won't tolerate any sort of
criminal activity from anyone working for the parish government, because
ultimately it's the taxpayers who pay the price.