On last week, Roderick Thomas of 2633 Park St. New Orleans, LA., age 49, pled guilty to Simple Burglary (2 counts). Thomas was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Shawn Bush, and presiding over this matter was the Honorable Judge Jessie LeBlanc. This guilty plea was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors following a pair of Donaldsonville business burglaries.
On June 28, 2017, deputies with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to Cajun Daquiri located in Donaldsonville in reference to an activated burglary alarm. Upon arrival, deputies observed that forced entry had been made into the building. Video surveillance footage showed a tall black male subject wearing a hoodie, jeans, white shoes, and what appeared to be a pair of socks over his hands walk into the parking lot before breaking a window of the business. The suspect then climbed through window and could be seen taking a jar of change and placing it into his pocket. While climbing back through the window, video footage showed the change falling out of the suspect’s pocket. The suspect then fled the scene.
A short time later, deputies responded to Dollar General a short distance away in reference to an activated burglary alarm. Upon arrival, deputies observed the main entrance door of the business to be partially open. It appeared that forced entry had been made into the business. A manager of the business was able to determine that several packs of cigars had been taken. While processing the scene, deputies located a pair of socks. One of the socks had what appeared to be dry blood on it. While viewing surveillance video footage, deputies observed what appeared to be the same subject in the first burglary making forced entry into this business.
On July 3, 2017, detectives received an anonymous tip which indicated that Roderick Thomas committed the burglary at the Dollar General. The tipster advised that Thomas had been seen with multiple packs of cigars following the burglary. Deputies were able to locate Thomas for questioning regarding both burglaries. Thomas denied committing the burglaries, but did consent to providing detectives with a DNA sample.
The sock with apparent blood located at the Dollar General along with the DNA swab taken from Thomas was submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis. Crime lab personnel determined that the DNA profile obtained from the sock was consistent with the DNA taken from Thomas. A warrant of arrest was then issued for Thomas.
On December 20, 2017, Roderick Thomas was booked into the Ascension Parish Detention Center in connection with both burglaries. In a subsequent interview with detectives, Thomas confessed to committing both burglaries and advised that he wanted to plead guilty to the charges.
Upon entering a guilty plea to the above-mentioned charges, as per the plea agreement with prosecutors, Thomas was sentenced to 8 years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections with credit for time served.