By LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – A bank robbery suspect recently entered a plea of guilty before 29th Judicial District Judge Kirk Granier and faces 10 years in prison.

Ikaika Kalili, 22, of New Orleans, entered the plea to the charge of being a principal to armed robbery in connection with the July 24, 2001 robbery of the First American Bank in Norco.

Kalili was the driver of the getaway car, which was spotted by Crime Scene Technician Mike Jackson in the bank’s parking lot. Jackson noticed when the dye pack inside the robbery loot exploded in the suspects’ vehicle.

Jackson alerted the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the responding deputies chased the suspects, Kalili and Ralph Williams III, into Destrehan. The pair were trapped on Ormond Meadows Drive, a dead-end street, and pursued across the railroad tracks into a nearby wooded area. Williams was captured almost immediately, but Kalili led searchers, using K-9 units and helicopters between Destrehan and New Sarpy, in circles for nearly six hours, until he was found beneath a shed in a residential back yard on Acadia Street.

Williams, 20, also of New Orleans, faces trial in connection with the robbery. No date has been set for his trial. Assistant District Attorney Kim McElwee handled the prosecution for the state against Kalili.

When asked to comment on the case, District Attorney Harry Morel said, “I would like to thank Jackson for his involvement in this case. He was off-duty at the time of the incident and observed the offenders fleeing the scene.”

Jackson received a Distinguished Service Award from Sheriff Greg C. Champagne, along with Dep. Wayne Joseph and Capt. Fred Oubre.