Law Enforcement Teams Up To Close Multi-County Robbery Cases

Authorities say a month-long robbery spree across two counties is officially over, with all five suspects behind bars in the Orange County jail.

Tonight Ashley Rodrigue reports on the team work it took to catch the criminals before they could strike again.

"We all pull together, we all work together, nobody's interested in glory, let's just get the job done..."

That job for Orange County Sheriff Mike White came to a quick close Tuesday morning when he says the final two suspects involved in last Friday's orange savings bank robbery in Orange were arrested.

Those suspects are Eddie and Patrick Lavies. The three other suspects arrested minutes after Friday's robbery are Jose Cruz, Fredrico Johnson Jr. and a 16-year-old... all Newton county residents.

For Newton County Sheriff Joe Walker and Newton Police Chief Tommy Adams, those arrests are the climax of a long month of robberies throughout Newton County.

Chief Adams says the robberies started with a liquor store hold up on February 4th. He says that was followed by two convenience store robberies before the group's latest and last hit at the bank on Highway 62.

Sheriff White said, "We'll take advantage of anything we can and sometimes we just really really have good luck and a lot of prayers."

Authorities say that luck was the Lavies brothers' mistake of leaving half of the group behind at the bank robbery. That, and the combined efforts of several agencies, including Orange and Newton counties, led to the lead on the rest of the robberies.

Sheriff Walker said, "One of the guys that's in custody told us he felt like he had been set up because he had been left behind so he came forth with quite a bit more information."

That information pointed out where to find the other two suspects. One was arrested in Jasper. The other...

Walker said, "I got to use a sledge hammer to tear down the door to get into the house because they wouldn't come and let us in and after we cleared the house we found him in the attic."

Law enforcement says the job now is to get more answers. As to the question of why the suspects even started their crime spree...

Newton Police Chief Tommy Adams said, "Just for money, they said they couldn't find a job, they really won't have to worry about employment for the next few years I'm sure."

Authorities say the suspects are facing a number of state and federal charges. Newton County authorities say they're investigating whether the suspects are responsible for some unsolved robbery and burglary cases in their area as well.