Four N.O. men, a woman and a male juvenile arrested in two auto thefts after pursuits; Also resulted in arrests for a stolen phone and 17 bags of marijuana

Keivon Jones, booked with auto theft and possession of a stolen vehicle

Jerrimontate Brown, booked with auto theft and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Four adult men, one woman and one male juvenile, all from New Orleans, were arrested in two auto thefts in which they were caught after pursuits, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Also, one of the men was booked with possession of a stolen cell phone from a vehicle burglary, and one man and one woman were booked with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute after 17 small bags of the drug were found in the back seat of a police unit in which they were transported to jail.

One person in a group of three arrested for one of the auto thefts told sheriff’s deputies they had been dropped off in a Meraux subdivision to look for a vehicle to steal by members of the other group arrested, the sheriff said.

The arrests were early Saturday morning, March 28.

Just after 2 a.m. on that date, sheriff’s deputies spotted a Honda Insight with a Kentucky license plate eastbound on Judge Perez Drive at Jacob Drive in Chalmette without head lights on. The vehicle was reported stolen.

When officers tried to stop the driver, he fled and accelerated up to about 80 mph, disregarding red lights, until the vehicle, which had three occupants inside, came to Bayou Road and the driver lost control and struck a ditch near Sugar Mill Drive.

All three occupants fled on foot and two, Carla Coste, 17, and Sevie Delery, 17, were captured and arrested, while a teen-age male initially got away. But that person, who was the driver, was later found, arrested and identified as a 16-year-old juvenile.

The driver, whose name wasn’t released because he is a minor, was booked with possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated flight from officers, resisting an officer, no driver’s license and with numerous traffic charges.

Coste and Delery were initially booked with possession of the stolen vehicle but later the charge of possession with intent to distribute marijuana was added for them after the plastic bag with 17 small bags inside were found in the back of the police car in which they were transported to jail.

Both Coste and Delery have been released on bonds of $15,000 each.

In the other arrests involving a stolen vehicle, a Meraux woman reported about 4 a.m. March 28 that her pick-up truck had just been stolen at her home, with the sound of it being started up awakening her.

A short time later, sheriff’s deputies spotted the truck, occupied by three males, westbound on Judge Perez Drive at Paul Drive but the driver wouldn’t stop and accelerated at a high rate of speed.

Moments later other units joined in the pursuit and Paris Road was blocked off at Judge Perez Drive. The driver attempted to evade that by taking a right on Lyndell Drive, going north, but when the street dead-ended the vehicle was driven into a drainage canal containing water.

The occupants, all 17, got out to flee but all three were captured and arrested, included the driver, Keivon Jones, and passengers Luis Nunez and Jerrimontate Brown.

All were booked with theft of an auto, possession of a stolen auto and resisting an officer. Jones also was booked with not having a driver’s license, aggravated flight from officers and with traffic charges.

Brown had a cell phone on him which he denied ownership of and later that morning after the phone had been reported stolen in a vehicle burglary, Brown was also booked with possession of stolen property.

All three men are being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $50,000 bonds each.