Two Arrests Made for Stolen Copper

Press Release – On February 22, around 9:15 am, APD officers responded to a closed business in the 200 block of Bolton Avenue. According to the complaint, two males had taken items from the store and left the building in a truck with a trailer. Officers arrived quickly and were able to locate the truck and make a traffic stop nearby, at 16th Street and Park Avenue.

Officers contacted the complainant, who had seen the two males at the building the previous day and called police, but the suspects were gone before officers arrived. The complainant did not know the suspects and they did not have permission to be in the building. On this occasion, the complainant saw the suspects taking copper from inside the building to the truck and called police.

The suspects claimed that they were given a key by a man whose name they did not know, so that they could clean out the store for the owner. The suspects were apparently collecting the copper and selling it per the unidentified man’s request. The suspects were identified as Larry Cassell and Michael Smith, and both were charged with Simple Burglary and booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center.