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Baton Rouge Man, 19, Arrested in Fatal Shooting Investigators Arrest Man in Check Cashing Ring Man Dies After Being Shot on North 21st Street

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By DEBRA LEMOINE BOB ANDERSON MARK f. BONNER

Baton Rouge man, 19, arrested in fatal shooting

Police arrested a 19-year-old man Thursday in the shooting death of a 25-year-old man during a robbery Wednesday, authorities said.

Dexter Marshall, 5714 St. Gerard Ave., was booked into Parish Prison on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Kedrick Williams, 5725 St. Katherine Ave., police spokesman Cpl. LJean McKneely said.

Williams, who was found dead inside a home he was sharing with relatives, had been shot several times in the head, McKneely said.

McKneely could not confirm whether or not Marshall was the triggerman, but said Marshall was involved in the theft of an undisclosed amount of money.

Investigators arrest man in check cashing ring

A Baton Rouge man accused of involvement in a counterfeit check cashing ring, which collected more than $50,000 from fake checks, is behind bars after being arrested Thursday by special agents from the Louisiana Attorney Generals Investigations Division.

Ashley Elroy Fisher, 27, 1906 Mulberry St., was booked into the Parish Prison on five counts of monetary instrument abuse, five counts of forgery and five counts of felony theft, booking records show.

Fisher cannot post bond because of a parole violation, records show.

The Attorney Generals Office reported Fishers arrest stems from a check-cashing ring that cashed counterfeit checks throughout the Baton Rouge area, targeting at least 15 check-cashing businesses, as well as Jack in the Box and Toms Snacks.

The investigation began after the Louisiana Department of Social Services Fraud Unit reported that about 40 counterfeit payroll checks had been cashed in the Baton Rouge area.

The counterfeit child support checks were cashed at unwary businesses and routed through state Department of Social Services bank accounts for payment, the release says.

The ringleader of the alleged scheme would make copies of legitimate paychecks, ranging from $400 to $550 each, and have participants cash the fake checks, returning half the value of the check to the ringleader, investigators said.

Authorities are searching for the alleged participants of the ring, including Baton Rouge residents Donald Odds, 30, and his wife, Litearisa Graves Odds, 31, both of 3229 Ontario St., the agency said.

Attorney General Charles Foti warned businesses to be aware that counterfeit payroll checks are being circulated around Baton Rouge. People who suspect they may have been victimized are asked to call the Attorney Generals Investigations division at (225) 326-6100.

Man dies after being shot on North 21st Street

A man died at a hospital after neighbors found him lying shot and wounded in the 100 block of North 21st St. about noon Saturday.

Baton Rouge police spokesman Capt. Danny Martin said investigators are not releasing the victims name because next of kin had not been notified.

The shooting happened near the corner of North Boulevard, he said.

Although police do not have a motive or a suspect, Martin said they are looking for a 35- to 40-year-old, light-skinned black man with corn-rowed hair, last seen driving away from the shooting in a 1994 or 1995 dark green Chevrolet pickup truck with aqua green stripes.

HAMMOND With more than $100 million in improvements coming into the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport during the next few years, the regional airport is poised for growth.

A majority of the new investment into the airport is coming from the Louisiana Army National Guard, which is moving an aviation support unit from the New Orleans Lakefront Airport to the Hammond airport, which is farther inland. The Guard expects to spend $110 million to build hangars, offices and other buildings for its operations there.

On a slightly smaller scale, but nevertheless important, the airport secured money in recent years from the Federal Aviation Administration to improve runways, said Jason Ball, airport director. A $2.2 million project to resurface and strengthen the longer of the airports two runways should begin in a couple weeks, Ball said.

A project to lengthen the runway from 5,000 feet to 6,500 feet was completed in 2004, Ball said.

The types of planes that can land at an airport depends on the length of a runway and how much weight it can handle. The extra length of the runway gave the airport the ability to handle planes such as the small commercial jets that fly into the Baton Rouge Metro Airport, Ball said.

The project to strengthen the longer runway will allow it to handle 65,000 single-wheel pounds. That runway is now limited to 15,000 wheel pounds, he said.

Wheel pounds is a measurement of how much weight is put on each wheel of an airplane as it lands, which determines how large an aircraft can land at the airport, Ball said.

When completed this summer, the resurfacing project would give the runway the ability to handle some Boeing 737 aircraft, the militarys C-130 turboprops or the Airbus A-320s, he said.

The jets that Southwest Airlines uses for flights out of the Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner could land in Hammond after the resurfacing project, Ball said. However, Boeing 747 planes or the military C-17s that can land in New Orleans still wont be able to land in Hammond, he said.

But dont expect to see passenger service at the Hammond airport, Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster said.

It makes absolutely no sense to have a passenger airline, he said.

Located less than an hours drive from the large passenger airports serving the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas, the Hammond airport would be hard-pressed to compete against them, the mayor said.

The extra security measures for airline travel after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., also make offering passenger service out of Hammond problematic, Foster said.

Instead, the Hammond airport will focus on attracting more cargo business, Foster said. Its location near the junction of Interstates 12 and 55 as well as major railroad lines makes air cargo a more natural fit, he said. Plus, the security measures for cargo traffic are not as stringent as for passenger travel, he said.

Bob Basford, the executive director of the Tangipahoa Parish Economic Development Foundation, agrees that air transport is the best goal for the airport. He said that the company officials he talks to about moving to the parish see the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport as an asset for locating in the Hammond-Tangipahoa area.

Tangipahoa Parish already is home to several commercial distribution centers that use the Hammond airport in their business operations, Basford said. Wal-Mart has one of the distribution centers in Robert and Winn-Dixie has one in Hammond. Home Depot has a lumber distribution center near the Hammond airport and a plumbing distribution center in Ponchatoula. Cardinal Medical has a medical supply distribution center located across the street from the Hammond airport.

We absolutely have prospects that looked at and came to the area because of that airport, Basford said.

The new military installation alone will bring more interest in residential development in the area and smaller businesses to support its operations near the Hammond airport, Basford said.

What we believe is going to happen with the military moving in is that its going to start the growth, or help the growth, of the east side of Hammond, Foster said. It will bring a focus to our new business park at the airport exit.

The city has two industrial-business parks near the airport that are run by its two economic development arms.

Part of Basfords and Fosters confidence comes from history. When U.S. Customs and Border Protection located its Southeastern United States air operations at the Hammond airport in 2002, more businesses began to indicate an interest in the airport and the Federal Aviation Administration gave it higher priority for improvement projects such as the recent runway improvements, Foster said.

Officials of at least one business, Blessey Marine, told airport officials that the airport became more attractive to them when U.S. Customs arrived, Ball said. Blessey Marine, which stations its jets at the Hammond airport in connection with its tugboat services along the Mississippi River, set up near the U.S. Customs facility to connect to the ramp the federal agency installed and to be near a federal facility with tight security.

Basford said that with the Louisiana National Guard facility coming to Hammond airport, it is likely the FAA would look more favorably at any requests to fund future improvements to the airport.

Planned changes in how the airport is managed also may help it grow. The city of Hammond controls the operations of the airport, spending about $340,000 a year on maintenance, utilities and salaries of the airports small administrative staff. All capital improvements have come from FAA and state funds.

The City Council must approve every lease at the airport, which is a process that can take up to 60 days, Foster said. The council must introduce an ordinance at one meeting and then hold a public hearing and vote on a final version of that ordinance at a second meeting.

The city is working on a plan to delegate its authority to approve market-rate leases to the Hammond Airport Authority, which now serves solely as an advisory board, Foster said.

Any lease that is based on a market rate could be approved by the board, which could meet on 24 hours notice to approve a lease, Foster said. Leases such as the one awarded to the Louisiana National Guard for $1 a year for 99 years will still need council approval.

A preliminary analysis to determine what the market rate of land at the airport should be was given to the city, Foster said. But the analysis was sent back for further study because the rate seemed too high for the area, Foster said.

The preliminary report gave the airport a rate of 18 cents per square foot, Foster said. The airport now charges 12 cents per square foot to lease land, he said.

What makes him question the report is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted its own market study on the airport to determine rent on a tract of airport property for hurricane evacuee trailers, Foster said. FEMAs rate is 10 cents per square foot, and Foster said that FEMA is not known for giving low rates.

FEMA is seeking a contract to place trailers on the airport property for military personnel only, Foster said. The FAA would not allow anyone else to live on the airport property because the agency believes having someone without aircraft training would be a safety hazard, Foster said.

Hurricane Katrina seems to be accelerating the airports growth in some respects, but officials said the airport was going to grow anyway.

I feel as though the storm served as a catalyst to speed up the growth we had already anticipated for the parish, Basford said.

The military had contacted the Hammond airport about relocating operations there before Katrina struck Louisiana on Aug. 29.

Before the hurricane, they had approached us about moving a military group here, Ball said. After the hurricane, it became a reality that they wanted to move. Hammond looked really high and dry.

The military has indicated an interest beyond the Guard unit that is coming to the airport, Foster and Ball said. Foster said the city will be protective of its remaining land and may have to look at helping the military secure other land for any future use there. Foster said he could not disclose what those plans are because the military asked that its plans not be disclosed until they become final.

The hurricane also spurred more use of the airport as a place for aircraft to land or refuel. Before Aug. 29, the airport had about 100 operations either a takeoff or landing a day. The usage skyrocketed to about 800 operations a day in September, but since has declined to about 120 to 130 a day in January, Ball said.

LAFAYETTE Voters in three Acadiana parishes area approved a series of property tax renewals Saturday.

In portions of the parishes of Evangeline and St. Mary, voters approved property tax renewals that fund maintenance of roads, cemeteries and waterworks.

St. Martin Parish voters renewed a school maintenance tax renewal by a 911 to 190 vote.

The St. Martin Parish tax renewal is for a 10-year, 1.85-mill property tax that funds school maintenance.

Two areas of Evangeline Parish had property tax renewals on the ballot, dealing with separate issues.

Road District No. 3 voters, in the area around Mamou and Vidrine, renewed by a 127 to 51 vote a 10-year, 10.3-mill property tax to pay for construction, maintenance and improvement of parish roads in the area.

Police Jury Ward 4 voters, in the Pine Prairie area, renewed by a 126 to 22 vote the renewal of a 10-year, 2-mill property tax intended to cover the costs of maintenance and upkeep of parish cemeteries in the area.

In St. Mary Parish, voters within the Waterworks District No. 5 jurisdiction, generally covering the unincorporated areas between Franklin and Patterson, renewed a 10-year, 4.72-mill property tax renewal intended to cover maintenance and operations costs.

That measure passed with 244 yes votes to 52 no votes.

LIVINGSTON Voters overwhelmingly approved a tax rededication Saturday to build a new jail in Livingston Parish.

Criminals can peddle their wares elsewhere, because they will go to jail in Livingston Parish, Sheriff Willie Graves said upon hearing the results.

Graves has complained that criminals are walking the streets because the jail is too small.

High costs associated with the overcrowded jail, including the large expense of housing excess inmates in other parishes, had threatened to break the parish financially, Parish President Mike Grimmer said Saturday night as he expressed relief when votes were counted.

Clerk of Court Tom Sullivan said about 10 percent of the parishs voters went to the polls Saturday to vote on the single issue, passing the rededication 5,219 to 2,078.

Of those going to the polls, 72 percent favored rededicating 25 percent of a one-cent sales tax so that it can be used to build a jail and maintain prisoners, according to the complete but unofficial returns. Until now that tax has gone 100 percent to road resurfacing.

The proposition also allows for selling bonds for the remainder of the roads identified for resurfacing in the parish program. Under the proposal, those road improvement projects should be completed within two years, which is faster than some of them would have been resurfaced if voters had not passed Saturdays proposition, Grimmer said.

Hopefully, a new jail can be put into operation in 18 months he said.

In the meantime, the tax change will provide the parish with breathing room in dealing with inmate costs, which threatened to run the parish out of money by the end of this year or early in 2006, Grimmer said.

We appreciate the very progressive stance of the voters, Grimmer said Saturday night.

Graves echoed that comment, saying he was pleased that once people saw the need and the plan, that they supported the proposal.

After many years of not being able to put people in jail who need to be there, Graves said he is excited and the prospects of having a jail large enough to accommodate parish law enforcement activities.

Grace & Hebert Architects have provided preliminary plans for a jail that would house 660 prisoners rather than the 154 the current jail is equipped to hold.

The architects said the $18 million jail should be large enough to handle the parishs inmate population through 2025 and will be expandable when that capacity is reached.

Over the past two months, Grimmer and Graves have met with numerous civic groups to discuss the need for a new jail

Graves said failure to pass the proposal would cause a law enforcement crisis because it would not only handcuff deputies and police in how many people they can arrest, but would eventually mean a wholesale release of prisoners.

Once the parish ran out of money to keep prisoners in out-of- parish jails, Graves said he would have had to release a large number of prisoners.

As of last week, he said he had about 60 prisoners in out-of- parish jails. That already represented a cutback brought by officials lowering bail, allowing people to be released on their own recognizance and limiting situations in which people were jailed, he said.

Rededication of a portion of the road tax was the brainchild of Councilman Stan Cain.

Cain said he proposed the rededication because he felt it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get voters to pass a new tax, and because he felt a new tax wasnt necessary.

He said he thought the council could more appropriately use the tax money citizens had already approved.

Its a first step in stabilizing the parishs finances, said Marshall Harris, chairman of the councils Finance Committee.

The council has to pay about six times as much to keep a prisoner in an out-of-parish-jail as it has to pay to keep a prisoner in the parish jail, he said.

The cost was about to break the parish financially, Harris said.

The jail has also become a security problem because of overcrowding, Graves said.

Housing about 200 prisoners even though it only has 154 beds means that deputies have to step around prisoners sleeping on the floor on mats, he said

That presents a security problem and a danger to jail employees, Graves said.

Lack of jail space has also been causing a problem for police officers, because criminals know theres only room to put them in jail unless they commit the most serious of crimes, Denham Springs Police Chief Jeff Wesley said.

District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said Saturday night that the new jail will also give prosecutors another tool and will help to keep the parish safer.

A 57-year-old man sustained a life-threatening gunshot wound to the head Saturday night after his son allegedly picked up a pistol in an argument about money and fired one round, authorities said.

Investigators identified the victim as Lawrence Jackson, who lives in the house where the shooting happened at 3665 Mission St., just north of Choctaw Drive, said Baton Rouge Police spokesman Capt. Danny Martin.

Late Saturday, Martin said, Jackson was in life-threatening condition at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.

The shooting occurred at 7:52 p.m. inside a bedroom in the house, but neighbors standing behind police tape said they didnt hear any gunshots and only knew something had happened after police arrived.

Police are looking for Jacksons son, Lawrence Jackson Jr., 25, who ran away from the residence after the shooting.

Upon first glance little had changed in the Siegen Lane shopping center parking lot where an 81-year-old man waiting for a ride home was shot and wounded Wednesday in a brash late-day robbery attempt.

The man survived after hours of surgery, but by Saturday afternoon, dozens of shoppers headed for the Target, Conns and PETCO stores had no idea the shooting had even occurred.

Andy Conerly, an employee at teen store Platos Closet, remembers, though. He said he was at work when the shooting occurred just yards from the glass front door of Platos Closet.

We heard the gunshot and didnt think anything of it, but when I walked to the door and saw the guy lying on the ground, I locked the door, Conerly recalled.

About three 12-year-old kids hanging around outside saw it happen and I let them in and we all ran to the back of the store to the office. They were actually the only ones who saw it and identified the shooter to the cops.

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office spokesman Fred Raiford said there were several surveillance cameras in the area, but none of them came up with significant photographic evidence of the shooting.

The victim was standing in the parking lot near Platos waiting for his grandson when two unidentified black men drove up in a two- door champagne-colored Cadillac and stopped near the victim.

Until Thursday night, Raiford said, detectives were not able to interview the victim.

It appears the subject asked him to give up his wallet and he refused to and that is when the gunman got out of his car and shot him in the leg, Raiford said.

Conerly said there was blood everywhere.

I was really surprised because things like this dont really happen here, Conerly said.

Managers of other businesses contacted in the shopping center declined to talk about the incident Saturday, citing company policy. But they did say security already has been increased because of the incident.

A security officer was hired and now patrols the parking lot from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, Conerly said.

I didnt even hear about it, said Rick Smith alongside his wife Vesper, as they walked out of Platos Closet just yards from where the shooting occurred.

We come here every weekend and walk from Target all the way to the other end. Thats crazy.

The shooter has been described as about 6 feet 1 inch tall, light skinned, who wore a red bandana and a blue ball cap with the front bill pushed up.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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