LAPLACE — A local man arrested more than six years ago for armed robbery in Reserve accepted a measure of responsibility in the case last week through a plea agreement with prosecutors, court records indicate.

According to the St. John the Baptist Parish Clerk of Court’s Office, Jermaine Carter, 36, pleaded guilty under alford — where the defendant agrees to be found guilty without admitting he committed a crime.

Judge Mary H. Becnel sentenced Carter to five years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections, with the Clerk’s office indicating that sentence was already credited due to time served from Jan. 6, 2012 to April 15, 2017.

Before Carter’s plea, he had been charged with armed robbery with a firearm.

The St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office announced Carter’s initial arrest in January 2012, linking the LaPlace resident to two armed robberies in one night of a Reserve grocery store.

A Sheriff’s Office spokesman said the manager of the store, located on River Road, contacted deputies to report the store had been robbed twice the night before. Deputies reviewed surveillance footage from cameras inside the store and observed a male subject, later identified as Carter, enter the store two times.

Police said each time the man came into the store he brandished a weapon and left with merchandise.

According to the Clerk’s Office, Carter has a pending D.W.I. case, has to continue alcohol anonymous classes and did not object to a finding of probable cause for the 2018 D.W.I. charge pending in St. John Parish.

Carter was given notice to return July 3 for proof of payment for court costs.