The St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested two LaPlace men in connection with an early morning “smash and grab” burglary of a Dollar General store in Reserve on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
St. John Parish Sheriff’s deputies responded at 4:41 a.m. to a report of a burglary at 3499 W. Airline Highway in Reserve (Dollar General). When officers arrived, they found the front window of the store had been shattered. Inside the store, a glass door of a cigarette cabinet also was shattered.
Video from the store’s security camera captured a man dressed in dark clothing, later identified as Cedric Lewis, 52, shatter the glass door of the business and enter the store. The security footage captures the man using an axe to shatter the glass door on the cigarette cabinet and remove several packs of cigarettes. The man is also seen taking two cases of beer before leaving the store. The total suspected amount of items taken is $448.42.
Using the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office network of crime cameras, officers were able to observe that shortly after leaving the store, Lewis got into the passenger side of a vehicle and was driven away. The vehicle was tracked to a residence in the 1800 block of Lee Drive where at 7:21 a.m. officers arrested Lewis and the driver of the vehicle, identified as Lewis’ neighbor, 55-year-old Edward Campbell.
Officers recovered merchandise inside the vehicle that was reported stolen from the store: 41 packs of cigarettes and two cases of beer.
Lewis has a history of criminal arrests in St. John Parish and has been booked into the parish jail 44 times, many of those stemming from incidents at local businesses. Management at seven stores in St. John Parish has banned Lewis from the premises because of his shoplifting.
Lewis was booked with simple burglary of an immovable structure and violation of probation/parole. He is being held in the St. John Parish jail under a $7,500 bond on the burglary charge set by 40th JDC Judge Vercell Fiffie. No bond has been set for the probation violation.
Campbell, who has no previous arrests in St. John Parish, was released on his own recognizance by 40th JDC Judge Vercell Fiffie.