Picayune police said officers responded Feb. 3 at about 8:32 p.m. to Home Depot at 2000 Highway 43 South after employees reported a shoplifter, according to a Facebook post.
Police identified the suspect as 46-year-old McConnell Williams Jr. of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Officers said Williams selected items in the garden center, placed them near an emergency exit and left the store through that door. He put a Milwaukee weed eater and other items into a waiting vehicle, got into the passenger side and the vehicle drove off.
Officers followed the vehicle as it turned onto Highway 43 South and then onto Interstate 59 southbound. Police conducted a traffic stop near mile marker 3 when they noted the vehicle did not have a tag displayed. The driver was identified as Quanesha Lashay Woods of Covington, Louisiana, and Williams was the passenger, police said.
When Woods rolled down the rear window to show officers a tag, officers saw the tag and the Milwaukee weed eater/blower combo plus two Milwaukee lithium batteries. Home Depot employees later confirmed the items were taken, and police provided values of $399 for the combo and $299 each for the batteries, for a total of $997.
Williams was arrested on a charge of shoplifting and was found to be wanted on a felony shoplifting warrant out of St. Bernard Parish, police said. Woods was issued a citation for an improperly placed tag and was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and accessory after the fact. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
