Sheriff’s Office captures both men who fled into woods after an armed robbery in Violet

Armed robbery suspect Kenneth Augustin is brought out of woods in Violet by sheriff’s deputies Byron Shoemaker and Jonathan Smith.

Sheriff James Pohlmann and Col. John Doran in Violet during the search.

A tracking dog is taken into woods by St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies to take part in the searxh leading to the arrests.

Armed robbery suspect Russo Vinson in the sheriff’s detectives office before he was booked.

Two men who fled into woods after an armed robbery of a service station in Violet on Wednesday were captured after a search of the woods for several hours, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

The men, one from New Orleans and the other from Houston, were caught about an hour apart, one about 3 p.m. and the other just before 4 p.m. in woods near the Violet Canal.

Being booked with armed robbery and resisting arrest were Russo Vinson, 33, of Houston, and Kenneth Augustin, 24, of New Orleans. Augustin was captured first and Vinson second. Money believed stolen in the robbery was recovered on Vinson.

St. Bernard deputies, along with canines and officers from the Slidell Police Department and St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office as well as helicopters from the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office and the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office, had been searching after the 10 a.m. robbery.

One man with a handgun, believed to be Vinson, robbed a service station in the 6200 block of East St. Bernard Highway in Violet. No one was injured.

With the help of witnesses, Sheriff Pohlmann said, sheriff’s deputies quickly saw a silver Lincoln matching a description of one seen after the robbery, with two men inside.

Deputies chased the Lincoln to the end of General Pershing Street in Violet, which dead-ends into a canal, the sheriff said.

The car went into the canal at a wooded area and the men jumped out and ran into woods.

For hours, as deputies and search dogs combed the woods and helicopters searched overhead, there was no sign of either man.

But the methodical search in the woods led to finding one man just before 3 p.m. and the other less than an hour later, Sheriff Pohlmann said.