Burglary ring broken up

Two arrests have been made in a series of burglaries which occurred from June 2015 until early 2019 throughout northeast and central Louisiana.

Brady Cormier, 40, of Vidalia, and Mark Tyler Evans, 24, of Ferriday, were arrested by law enforcement in Texas on warrants from Rapides, LaSalle and Franklin Parish.  Evans has been extradited to Louisiana and is currently being held in the Rapides Parish Detention Center and Cormier is pending extradition.  Charges range from simple burglary, to criminal damage to property and criminal conspiracy. 

 In Richland Parish, warrants were obtained for three burglaries at the Dollar General Stores in Delhi, Mangham and Rayville.  Currently, the investigation is ongoing into other burglaries that occurred throughout the region.

In Franklin Parish, warrants were obtained for six burglaries, Boones Grocery in Gilbert, Baskin U-Pak-It in Baskin, two burglaries at The Dollar General Store in Wisner and two burglaries at La Video Bingo in Winnsboro.

“I would like to commend the RPSO investigations division, Mangham Police Department, Rayville Police Department and Delhi Police Department who worked diligently with surrounding agencies to solve these burglaries and dedicated many hours to making our communities safer,”  Richland Parish Sheriff Gary Gilley said. 

“These individuals are responsible for many burglaries which occurred in our area and surrounding areas.  The subjects using elaborate methods to scout and enter the buildings at opportune times without detection, while alluding alarm systems and other security measures,” Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said. “The suspects often traveled for many miles to different parishes burglarizing before returning to an area to burglarize again.  This is a situation where investigators did not give up and kept the investigation active until additional information became available.  It is estimated that these men stole over $22,000 while damaging in excess of $200,000 in property in Franklin Parish alone.”

 Sheriffs Gilley and Cobb also stated, “We wish to express our appreciation for all the agencies who worked together to secure these arrests.  Without the group effort of many agencies in northeast and central Louisiana these crimes would remain unsolved.” 

 At this time, the investigation is still ongoing, and additional arrests are expected to be made.