Slidell man convicted in 2008 armed robbery

A St. Tammany Parish jury found Jason Walstrum, 39, of Slidell guilty on two counts of armed robbery last week for robbing a Sonic restaurant at gunpoint in June 2008.

Walstrum was arrested July 6, 2008, after St. Tammany deputies stopped his car and identified him as the man wanted for the June 30 robbery of the Sonic Drive-in on Louisiana Highway 22 in Mandeville.

According to records, Walstrum walked into the restaurant during the early morning armed with a handgun and ordered two employees to open the safe. However, the safe could not be opened, and Walstrum took an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register and fled.

After getting a description of Walstrum, Mandeville police found video tape of him at a nearby gas station on the day of the robbery. His picture was put out to the public and, on July 6, deputies stopped his car near the Mandeville exit of Interstate 12.

Even though neither the gun nor the clothing he wore that night was recovered, witnesses identified Walstrum during his trial in the courtroom of state District Court Judge Rick Swartz. St. Tammany District Attorney Walter Reed spokesman Rick Wood said the witnesses had been threatened with a “spray of bullets” by Walstrum if they followed him.

Swartz will sentence Walstrum June 23, Wood said. Walstrum could face 10 to 99 years in prison for armed robbery. However, he is also considered a career criminal and habitual offender, Wood said, and for that he could face life in prison.

Walstrum has previous convictions for selling drugs in Mississippi in 2006 and convictions for burglary, aggravated assault and grand theft in Florida in 1991.

According to the Mandeville police, Walstrum was on probation in Mississippi and had violated his probation when he came to live in Mandeville last year.