Couple booked in bar Chalmette burglary after their apartment key is found at the scene

There have been many true stories of so-called “dumb criminals’’ making it easier for police to find them.

Like the man who handed over a demand note in a bank robbery, written on the back of his checking deposit slip with his name and address printed on it. Or the convenience store robber who dropped his drivers’ license from a pocket. And the motorist seen buying drugs on a street and fleeing in a truck with a for sale sign in the back window listing his phone number.

Now, to that list can be added another way to get arrested: when your apartment door key is found on the floor at the scene of a burglary and becomes evidence against you.

Sheriff James Pohlmann said a Chalmette couple was booked with business burglary of a bar on Feb. 13 by St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s detectives who had located a key, with a green cord attached, that was on the floor near a pool table while investigating the break-in. Numerous cartons of cigarettes were taken about 2 a.m. on Jan. 31 in the burglary of a Judge Perez Drive bar in Chalmette, the sheriff said.

Arrested were Robert J. Clark III, 35, and Jaime Schlosser, 37, both of whom listed their address as 2004 Culotta St., Apt. B, Chalmette. Both have since been released from kail on $10,000 bonds each.

There was more to the case than finding the key, the sheriff said.

He said investigation by Det. Sgt. Donald Johnson, assigned the case, and others led to information which pointed to the couple as suspects and there was also physical evidence of interest at the scene.

When the suspects were located, an additional factor in their arrest was that the door key found after the burglary did fit their apartment door, the sheriff said.

The bar had been closed for the night about 1 a.m. and no key was seen on the floor at that time, a sheriff’s report said, but was spotted by Det. Johnson while processing the scene after the burglary was discovered.

Both arrested suspects denied involvement in the break-in, the sheriff said.