By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish authorities arrested a LaPlace man in connection with an armed robbery at a Destrehan convenience store Tuesday, said a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

Deverol J. Zeno, 28, of 533 Fife St., was also charged with battery and kidnapping after being accused of forcing his friend to drive the getaway car, said Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office.

According to a report on the incident, the two men pulled up to the Valero Corner Market at the intersection of Airline Highway and Ormond Boulevard around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday so Zeno could stop for a drink. The driver stayed with the car.

Upon returning to the vehicle, Zeno told his friend, who was not identified, he had “just done a caper,” according to the release. The investigation revealed Zeno, armed with a gun, had forced the cashier inside the store to give him money from the register.

The cashier complied, and Zeno fled the store with an unknown amount of money.

LaGrange said when Zeno returned to his friend’s car and told him what he had just done, the two men then began to argue over what had happened.

After arguing for several minutes, Zeno finally forced his friend to drive him home at gunpoint. Once they got home, the two men got into a physical scuffle over the robbery, LaGrange said.

Zeno was booked into the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in Killona on first-degree robbery, aggravated kidnapping, simple battery, aggravated battery, simple criminal damage to property and aggravated assault charges.

He remains jailed in lieu of bond, and the amount was not available at press time.

The friend was not charged in the incident.