A routine traffic stop in St. Tammany Parish turned into a rolling arrest scene yesterday, when detectives pulled over a red Nissan Versa on Interstate 10 near Oak Harbor and found it loaded with illegal guns, suspected burglary tools and drugs. Inside, deputies say, were four people, two adults and two juveniles, caught during a proactive enforcement operation targeting suspected criminal activity along the I-10 corridor.
According to a post by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, deputies recovered four illegal firearms, including a Glock 19 reported stolen out of Jefferson Parish and a .223-style pistol that had been modified to function as an automatic weapon. The haul also included marijuana, a window punch, remote fobs, transponder chips and a key-cloning device, along with ski masks, gloves and goggles.
The sheriff's office says that once one of the adult suspects was booked, deputies discovered three tapentadol tablets, which led to an additional charge for bringing narcotics into a correctional facility. The post identified the arrestees as 18-year-old Lavonte Price of New Orleans, 23-year-old Dakari Williams of Slidell, 17-year-old Aalijah Lyons of New Orleans and a 16-year-old juvenile. The adults, the agency noted, were processed at what it called Club St. Tammany.
Sheriff's Office Calls It a 'Felony Carpool'
The agency labeled the stop a felony carpool, saying detectives believed the group was traveling with tools and parts consistent with auto theft and vehicle break-ins. According to the sheriff's office, all four occupants face felony counts related to illegal automatic weapons, possession of stolen firearms, narcotics and other offenses. The juvenile was transported to the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center for processing, and the full account is available on the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Facebook page.
Tools Linked to Auto Theft and Burglaries
Key-cloning devices, transponder chips and programmed remote fobs, the same types of items seized during the stop, are commonly used to bypass vehicle immobilizers and let thieves steal or strip cars in a matter of minutes, according to security researchers and journalists. As explained on CBS News, criminals have increasingly relied on radio-signal relay and cloning tools to defeat keyless entry systems.
Potential Charges and Penalties
Federal law broadly prohibits possession or transfer of machineguns and parts intended to convert firearms to fully automatic fire, and violations can carry prison time and fines under ATF rules and 18 U.S.C. § 922, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The presence of tapentadol, a Schedule II opioid, could increase narcotics exposure if prosecutors pursue state or federal drug charges, under the Drug Enforcement Administration's scheduling rule.
The Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center notes that it serves St. Tammany and neighboring parishes and provides secure custody for youth charged with misdemeanor or felony offenses.
Sheriff's detectives say the investigation is ongoing. Booking statuses and formal charges had not yet appeared in public online records, and authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office tip line.
