Clown mask leads to four men arrested in a robbery

Jack Tucker Jr.

Jaleel Sino

Darrien St. Romain.

Jarred St. Romain

Clown mask recoverd in the arrests.

A St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputy seeing a clown mask at the scene of four arrests for disturbing the peace helped lead to the arrests of the same men for an April 11 armed robbery in eastern St. Bernard Parish in which the mask was worn by a robber, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

The four men arrested for disturbing the peace had also been riding in a vehicle which fit the description of the one the robbers were in when they got out and forced a pedestrian on a street at gunpoint to turn over money and snacks he had, the sheriff said.

Lt. Leander Morgan saw the clown mask in the vehicle the men were in when arrested for disturbing the peace the night of April 20 and remembered it and the description of the vehicle from the statement taken from the robbery victim the night of April 11.

The victim wasn’t injured.

A white man wearing a mask and three black men committed the robbery together, according to the victim, and three black men and a white man were also arrested in the disturbance case.

Morgan contacted sheriff’s detectives the night of April 20 about the similarities of the cases and detectives conducted a follow- up investigation.

That same night, the robbery victim identified the four men being held for the disturbance as the four who robbed him and said he recognized the mask found and the truck they had been in as also used in the robbery, the sheriff said.

Based on the victim’s identifications and information developed by Det. Ryan Melerine, all four of the men were booked with armed robbery in the April 11 case.

One of the four arrested, Jack Tucker Jr., 18, of Meraux, admitted his involvement in the robbery, the sheriff said.

The other three arrested were Jaleel Sino, 18, of Violet; and twin brothers Jarred St. Romain and Darrien St. Romain, both 18, and from Meraux.

Tucker and both St. Romains have been released on bonds of $7.500 each while Sino is jailed in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $7.500 bond.