LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / September 13, 1999

NORCO – Three men robbed the Hibernia National Bank on Apple Street Thursday but failed to make off with their loot. Instead, they werearrested minutes later in LaPlace by a St. John Parish sheriff’s deputy.Charged with armed robbery were Rodney White, 22, 2509 South Sugar Ridge, LaPlace; Charles Holmes, 22, 355 Fir St., LaPlace; and BryanNeville, 25, 201 East 10th St., Reserve.All are being held with no bond set in the St. Charles Parish Jail.According to Capt. Patrick Yoes, two of the three men entered the bank at10:18 a.m. One was armed with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and thesecond man was armed with a revolver. Both wore masks.After ordering the three tellers on the floor, one man went behind the teller’s counter and collected cash, then the two men fled the bank toward a vacant lot on Good Hope Street. There were no customers in the bank atthe time, and no one was injured.

Moments after they fled, a dye-pack inserted with the cash exploded, staining the suspects with red dye to make identification easier.

When police arrived minutes later, they recovered the cash in the vacant lot and got a description from witnesses of a 1997 Toyota 4-Runner in which the suspects fled the scene with a third man.

A BOLO (Be On the Look Out) was broadcast, and Sgt. Edward “Tootie”Nowell of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office moved to cut off the fleeingtrio.

At 10:26 a.m., Nowell apprehended the trio near West Fifth Street and Fir,only three blocks from the listed residence of one of the suspects. Theweapons and masks were recovered from the vehicle, and all three were stained with the red dye, which takes several days to wear off.

After being booked as fugitives at the Lt. Sherman Walker CorrectionalCenter in LaPlace, the three were sent to Hahnville to face the armed robbery charge.

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