UPDATE: The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office announced that the second suspect that was still at large, Leonard Howard, turned himself in to custody on Friday afternoon.
Two men suspected in a series of robberies of customers using drive-thru ATM at banks in St. Tammany, Orleans and Jefferson Parishes led law enforcement agencies on a chase that ended in a crash in Slidell late Wednesday night.
One of the suspects, 26-year-old Vondell Newsome was taken into custody with the aid of canine dogs, according to Slidell Police. The other suspect, Leonard Howard, was still at large before turning himself in on Friday afternoon.
Multiple agencies said they were already working on the crimes, which included robbing drive-thru customers at gunpoint at the Capital One in Mandeville on June 26 and June 28.
Mandeville Police said that similar crimes were also reported in St. Tammany, Orleans and Jefferson Parishes and that an armed robbery in Jefferson Parish Wednesday night with a similar description to the other crimes alerted law enforcement, which led several agencies to chase the vehicle through several parishes, that ended with a crash in a ditch in Slidell near Old Spanish Trail.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said its Major Crimes Unit were notified after a man was robbed while using an ATM outside of a bank on Highway 21 in Covington on June 28.
Mandeville Police were already working robberies of drive-thru ATM customers on June 26 and 28.
Warrants have also been obtained for the arrests of the driver, Leonard Earl Howard III (DOB 09/01/2003) of New Orleans, for Armed Robbery, Aggravated flight, Aggravated Obstruction of a Highway and Resisting an Officer. He is still being sought by law enforcement. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office at (985) 898-2338.
“Our detectives have been working closely with detectives in Mandeville and on the Southshore,” Sheriff Randy Smith said. “It is because of these good working relationships that detectives are able to share information and resources, which results in criminals like these being identified and subsequently arrested.”