St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office books New Orleans man with armed robbery of Chalmette convenience store

The St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office arrested a New Orleans man for robbing at gunpoint a Chalmette convenience store on May 25, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Vernon Dean, 38, of the 9000 block of Dwyer Road in New Orleans, was booked with armed robbery after he held up at gunpoint a clerk at Ponstein’s Food Store, 3523 Paris Road in Chalmette.

On May 25, shortly before 11 a.m., Sheriff Pohlmann said, Dean entered the convenience store, purchased nachos and a beer and then brandished a handgun and demanded cash from the register. Dean, who stole an undetermined amount of cash, fled the scene.

Sheriff Pohlmann said no one was injured in the incident.

Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau were able to identify Dean and his vehicle through video surveillance cameras, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

St. Bernard detectives, working along with the New Orleans Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service, apprehended Dean May 26 outside a hospital in New Orleans.

The Taurus .9mm handgun Dean used in the robbery was recovered, the Sheriff said.

During the course of the investigation, detectives learned Dean committed another armed robbery at a Kenner business earlier on the same day of the incident in Chalmette, and was wanted on an outstanding warrant out of the Kenner Police Department for armed robbery, illegal carrying of a weapon and convicted felon carrying a firearm.

Dean is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison on a $500,000 bond.