By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A 17-year-old and two juveniles were arrested in LaPlace Thursday morning after St. John the Baptist Parish deputies say they apparently robbed a bicyclist.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report on the incident, Deputies Anthony Cox and Sidney Triche were on a patrol in LaPlace about 1:30 a.m. Thursday when they noticed a vehicle on Elm Street traveling at a slow rate of speed with the front and rear passenger doors open. The deputies stopped the driver, who told deputies he and his friends were looking for their other friends.

Other deputies responding to the incident were approached by a 45-year-old LaPlace man on a bicycle who said he was robbed at gunpoint by two men wearing light colored tank tops and dark colored shorts. The man told investigators he handed over his wallet, but when the robbers found nothing of value in it, they dropped it and fled on foot.

A short time later, deputies found and detained two males walking on railroad tracks near Elm Street who matched the description of the robbers. Deputies arrested Deion Davis, 17, of 44575 Cypress St., Sorrento, for armed robbery and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. He was booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace and is being held on a $62,000 bond.

Two 16-year-old juveniles were also arrested and booked with principal to armed robbery. The teens were transferred to the St. James Youth Detention Center.