Homeless man booked with 10 vehicle burglaries in Violet from June 9-10; When arrested June 11 he was wearing a pair of pants and a belt from a victim taken two nights earlier

A man who said he was homeless had the audacity to be wearing another man’s pants and belt taken in a car burglary two nights earlier when he was arrested Sarturday night, June 11, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Patrick Sikes, 24, was booked with 10 counts of vehicle burglaries that happened in the Violet area the night of June 9 and morning of the 10th when he was initially arrested June 11 on a separate charge of aggravated battery against a Violet area woman, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Sikes, being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lienu of bond set at $100,000, became a suspect in the burglaries when he was spotted pulling on vehicle door handles on a home surveillance camera near the site of one of the break-ins.

Several sheriff’s deputies who had handled previous arrests of Sikes said they thought they recognized him from still photos taken from the surveillance footage and an alert was put out that Sikes was wanted for questioning in the burglaries.

When Sikes was taken into custody the night of June 11 for the aggravated battery, arresting deputies got in touch with the sheriff’s detective handling the burglary investigations, the sheriff said.

Det. Sgt. Ryan Melerine went to the scene of Sikes’ arrest and questioned him about the burglaries, which he first denied committing.

But Melerine learned one of the victims of the burglaries had reported a specific type of pants and belt were among items stolen from his vehicle and saw Sikes was wearing those type pants and belt.

The victim, at the scene, identified the pants and belt Sikes had on as stolen from his vehicle after Sikes removed the belt and the victim saw an extra hole the victim had made in it to make it fit better, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Confronted with the witness’ identification, Sikes admitted he had committed all the burglaries in search of loose change and other items because he was homeless and wanted to support what he said was a drug addiction.