Three women were arrested in Baton Rouge and charged with looting homes abandoned during the historic and disastrous flooding in South Louisiana, reports say.
According to a report on WAFB Channel 9, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests of Aurelia Page, 28; Oneatha Page, 23; and Latricia Parnell, 34.
Police report the women were apprehended as they were trying to pull air conditioning window units out of a home on Silverleaf Avenue.
It is alleged the three woman had pilfered several such units and had them piled up in front of a home.
A police report noted, “It should be noted that each air conditioner unit that was on the property appeared to be brand new but damaged due to them being thrown into the yard and the cords were cut on each of them.”
All three were charged with looting and burglary with bonds set at $52,000 each.
Arrests for looting have been made in several parts of south Louisiana which has been inundated with devastating flood waters.
Authorities in Livingston Parish, for instance, announced the arrests of 24 suspects charged with looting buildings abandoned in the face of rising waters.
Last week, at least 14 had been arrested in the affected region. The looting had become so widespread that the mayor of Baton Rouge set a curfew in an attempt to limit the thievery.
“They took all the TV’s, everything they could get their hands on,” one looting victim said of her home. “Everything I had up high, all my appliances and stuff,” the homeowner told The Advocate.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.