Police arrested two Slidell teenagers Saturday afternoon on charges of looting after a witness alerted Slidell police.

According to Slidell police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz, Latroy Simmons, 17 522 Beechwood St., and a 16-year-old juvenile were charged with two counts of looting after they allegedly broke into two houses sometime between Aug. 30 and Sept. 3 when residents of Slidell had evacuated due to Hurricane Gustav.

A homeowner at 735 Walnut St. returned to Slidell Sept. 4 to find someone had broken into his home. He called police and told them the thieves had stolen his 42-inch plasma television set. The victim said his mother’s house at 737 Walnut St. had also been burglarized, and a 40-inch television, two DVD players and 300 DVDs had been taken. Foltz said both break-ins were accomplished by the suspects breaking the bedroom windows. A forensic investigation also found the suspects had cut themselves on the broken glass.

Slidell detectives were told by a witness on Sept. 6 one of the suspects, the 16-year-old, lived on Pine Street. The witness told police he saw the suspects bring the televisions into the Pine Street house, and both of them told the witness they had stolen the television sets. The witness also noticed blood on the hands of the suspects along with numerous cuts.

During the investigation, a detective went to Walnut Street, where he was approached by Simmons. The detective noticed numerous fresh cuts on Simmons’ hands. Simmons could not give the detective a good reason for the cuts. After more questioning, the detective arrested Simmons on the looting charges. The detective was then able to find the 16-year-old and arrested him shortly thereafter.

The arrests prompted Slidell Chief of Police Freddie Drennan to state, “I want everyone to know that we have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”

Simmons was taken to the St. Tammany Parish Jail, where he is under a $100,000 bond. Foltz said the 16-year-old was released to his mother.