On Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrested a convicted felon identified Darrius Williams, 31, of Reserve, and charged him with simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling (felony); illegal possession of stolen things (felony); simple criminal damage to property – $1,000-$50,000 (felony) and under a fugitive warrant for Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called to the 200 block of Doral Boulevard in LaPlace at 6:59 a.m. Tuesday in reference to a burglary in progress. While canvassing the back of the residence, deputies observed a broken bay window on the first floor of the house. Deputies saw a man wearing a face mask and dressed in a black hoodie and pants climbing out of a second-story window and onto the roof. Once on the roof, the man, later identified as Williams, ignored deputies’ repeated commands to come down to the ground.

A St. John deputy used his departmental issued 40mm Less-Lethal Launcher to deploy a less lethal marking round into Williams’ left rear gluteal region. After the deployment, Williams complied with the deputy’s command to come down off the roof.

Williams arrest comes less than a week after Hurricane Francine brought flooding and power outages to St. John Parish. It was not the first time that Williams has burglarized homes following a storm.

Williams was arrested on Feb.24, 2022 and charged with several counts of home burglaries that had been reported in St. John in the area of Old 51 and St. Charles Parish where residents were still attempting to recover from Hurricane Ida. At that time, Williams was booked with illegal possession of stolen things (misd); eight counts of simple burglary—immovable structure (felony) and five counts of illegal possession of stolen things(felony).

Williams is being held in custody on a bond of only 25,000 set by Judge Vercell Fiffie.

Since 2010, Williams has been arrested over two dozen times on charges that include illegal possession of stolen things, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession, manufacture, distribution of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance.