Violet man booked with burglary, two counts of theft and trespassing, claiming he stole to support a crack cocaine addiction
Broderick Grant of Violet was on a one-man mini crime wave before his arrest on March 29 and has been booked with separate incidents of burglar
y, two thefts and trespassing, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.
Grant, 54, 5656 Sixth St., said when caught that he had stolen to support a crack cocaine addiction.
Grant was arrested March 29 when Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Lopez stopped his white Dodge Durango which matched the description of a getaway vehicle in a theft earlier that day of a lawn mower from a back yard on Patricia Street in Chalmette.
The lawn mower was recovered and Grant admitted he stole it, said Sheriff Pohlmann adding Grant is a good example that addiction to drugs is a central reason today for much of the property crimes committed as addicts take anything they can to sell and get cash for their habits.
Under questioning from Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Nuccio, who had investigated a burglary a day earlier in which someone with the same type and color vehicle had tried to steal items after burglarizing a shed on Prince Drive in Chalmette, Grant admitted he had committed that crime, Sheriff Pohlmann said.
Grant was booked with both the theft and the burglary, in which a resident had come home March 28 and found a man leaving his backyard with a pressure washer and auto charger, the sheriff said. The burglar dropped the items and ran to a white Dodge Durango and escaped, although the resident chased him til he lost him.
When a pawn shop receipt for two fishing poles was found in Grant’s vehicle, Grant also admitted to pawning them after stealing the poles March 27 from the same yard he stole the lawn mower on March 29.
Grant was being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison, with a probation hold on him when authorities found he also had outstanding warrants for his arrest for shoplifting from a Chalmette store and trespassing for returning to the store after he was ordered not to go back there because of a previous theft, the sheriff said.
Grant was also booked with those additional charges.