Lafayette Carjacking Suspect Arrested in Acadia Parish

Officials with the Lafayette Police Department say the second person wanted for a carjacking that happened on Stevenson Street was arrested yesterday by the US Marshals Violent Task Force.

Detective Kendris Handy says the carjacking happened Tuesday, March 5 at 611 Stevenson Street. The victim says he was just getting home and out of his vehicle when two unknown males held him at gunpoint and stole his vehicle.

When police arrived, they saw the vehicle and tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver fled the scene. Lafayette Police officers gave chase and a pursuit began that led all the way to Crowley where the vehicle crashed.

Handy says the vehicle crashed into a wooded area, and a juvenile was apprehended at the scene and then booked on a carjacking charge. As juvenile detectives started investigating the case, they were able to find out that the second suspect was 20-year-old Drelen Roberts.

Roberts says the Lafayette man was found in Rayne where he was then booked into the Acadia Parish Jail before being transferred to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center. He has been charged with the following:

• Carjacking
• Aggravated Flight from an Officer
• Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor

If convicted of carjacking in connection with this case, Roberts faces a minimum of five years in prison with a maximum of a twenty-year sentence according to Louisiana statute 64.2.

Coincidentally that day a bill new carjacking law was signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry.