A man accused of two separate instances of possessing a firearm while being a convicted felon, pleaded guilty in Caddo District Court Thursday, Aug. 24, just before the jury was to have returned to deliver its verdict.

Davis Lamichael Pea, 29 of Shreveport, was sentenced by District Judge Chris Victory to 15 years in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, for a Feb. 25, 2021 incident where police responded to an armed person call resulting in a traffic stop where Pea was found to be in possession of an AR weapon.

Judge Victory sentenced Pea to five years, also without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, for a Jan. 1, 2023 incident where officers responded to a shots-fire call and found Pea, who fled on foot but was eventually arrested.

The prison terms are to be served concurrently.

The first crime had docket No. 381394, while the second crime was docket No. 392993.

Pea is prevented from possessing a firearm due to a 2013 simple robbery conviction.

Pea was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Victoria Washington and Courtney Ray. He was defended by Dave Knadler.

A Shreveport man accused of forcing sex acts on an unconscious female relative was unanimously convicted as charged in Caddo District Court Wednesday, Aug. 23.

The 10-woman, two-man jury in District Judge Chris Victory’s court found Erick Lamond Williams, 46, guilty of the April 24, 2022 attack on the adult victim who was inebriated.

Williams was charged with third degree rape, crime against nature, simple escape and resisting an officer with force or violence.

The jury determined that Williams had forced vaginal and anal sex on the woman, with another resident in the apartment capturing the sex acts in photos and video.

After his arrest, Williams fled from police custody and while resisting, broke an arm of one of the police officers involved.

For the rape conviction, he faces up to 25 years in prison. For the crime against nature conviction, he faces up to five years in prison. For the escape, he faces two to five years in prison, while the resisting conviction has a one to three-year sentence. However, the state plans to file a habitual offender bill that would increase the sentencing to 25 years to life.

Williams will return to Judge Victory’s courtroom Sept. 27, 2023 for sentencing.

Williams was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Sam Crichton and Victoria Washington. He was defended by Michael Enright and Stephen Folk-Cruthirds.

The case was docket No. 388775.

Caddo Parish Sheriff’s detectives added more charges to a Shreveport man who is currently jailed for the rape of a juvenile, said Sheriff Steve Prator.

Demarquis Davis, 34, of the 2900 block of Nettie Street, was arrested on June 8 by the Shreveport Police Department and charged with one count of First-Degree Rape of a Juvenile. He is now charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.

Detectives with the Cyber Crimes Unit received a tip in early August that an online account responsible for uploading and distributing child sexual abuse images was linked to Davis. Detectives found several images of child pornography during their investigation. Det. Thomas Lites obtained and executed a search warrant for Davis’s residence and seized his electronic devices.
Davis, currently booked into the Caddo Correctional Center, now faces nine counts of Possession and Distribution of Pornography Involving Juveniles. He is being held on a $500,000 bond for First Degree Rape.

The investigation into Davis’s case is ongoing, and additional charges may be added. The Caddo Sheriff’s Office continues to aggressively investigate child sexual abuse cases with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office. They encourage anyone with information regarding this crime or other crimes against children to contact the Caddo Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Department at 318-681-0700.

United Way of Northwest Louisiana (UWNWLA) partnered with Bossier Parish Schools and Caddo Parish Public Schools for its annual Fill the Bus school supply drive, sponsored by Aetna. Within three weeks, the organization collected 18,250 school supplies with an impact value of $26,900 for students and teachers within the school districts. Monetary donations resulted in $2,151 for the school systems. Bossier Parish Libraries, RRCU, Shreve Memorial Library, North Caddo Medical Center, and Blanchard Medical aided the initiative by collecting supplies at their locations.

UWNWLA’s Fill the Bus initiative, with the help of volunteer teachers, encourages Northwest Louisiana communities to shop at participating Walmart Supercenters to purchase and donate school supplies for local students. This initiative allows K-12 students in Bossier and Caddo parishes to start the upcoming school year with the basic tools needed for success. Every year, the school districts decide how the supplies are distributed. Supplies collected for Bossier Schools went into their supply closet for teachers to choose from. Teachers who volunteered for Fill the Bus could choose their supplies first. Teachers from Caddo Schools who volunteered for the initiative took the supplies collected from their volunteer shift to put directly into their classrooms.

“The support United Way provides to our teachers and students at the start of the school year is invaluable,” said Bossier Schools Superintendent Mitch Downey. “Thanks to the Fill the Bus drive, we were able to set up a school supply room for educators to get items needed for their classrooms that some of our families were unable to provide. Sending children back to school is expensive enough, then factor in everything costing more, making it difficult for many to buy everything on their children’s supply lists. Our teachers see that firsthand, often reaching into their own wallets to fill the gaps, but thankfully, United Way’s efforts go a long way in helping with those needs.”

Bossier Schools will use the monetary donations from Fill the Bus to purchase additional school supplies requested by teachers. Caddo Schools is using its monetary donations to support the McKinney-Vento Program, which provides rights and services to children and youth experiencing homelessness and allows them to remain in their schools of origin during their homelessness.

“I want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the community members who generously supported Fill the Bus,” said Raavin Evans, UWNWLA Director of Community Impact. “Your contributions will make a significant impact on the education of our students. We surpassed our goal this year and increased our impact because of YOU. We are truly thankful for your kindness and support. Thank you for coming together to make a difference!”

Fill the Bus benefits more than 4,000 elementary, middle, and high school children identified as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) and/or families struggling to make ends meet. This initiative seeks to lessen the strain on already strapped household budgets. According to the National Retail Federation, families with K-12 children in the United States plan to spend $864 on school supplies, such as notebooks, pencils, backpacks, and lunchboxes.

Go Tigers! BOM is proud to be a sponsor of the Benton High School football program. Pictured left to right: BOM’s Kamie Watson, Blair Founds, and BOM’s Sherry Papa!

By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports

NATCHITOCHES – Jamborees are strange creatures. Everyone looks forward to them, but nobody can hardly remember anything about them when they are over. You see all the machinations you might see in a regular season game – flexing defensive linemen after a sack, finger-waving receivers after a catch – for an event that really doesn’t matter.

The winners celebrate it; the losers try to forget about it by the time the bus gets put into gear.

Loyola coach Mike Greene wasn’t as much concerned about the result of Friday night’s Natchitoches Regional Medical Center Jamboree as he was about how his team played. The Flyers came out on the short end of a 14-0 result against Natchitoches Central at Turpin Stadium and it was as if Greene hardly even noticed the scoreboard.

“We are playing a (Class) 5A school and we’ve got a lot of new faces out there,” said the veteran coach, now in his 28^th year as a head coach. “We just got to tweak a few things. We didn’t show much and just did our basic stuff. Next week is what counts and I was pleased with our effort.”

The Class 2A Flyers had two decisive issues against the Chiefs and both involved third down. The offense had trouble converting them and the defense couldn’t get Natchitoches Central off the field. Time and time again, the Chiefs were able to pick up a first down and looked like they might wear out the Flyer defense.

But the Loyola defensive backs would have none of it.

After Natchitoches Central had taken a 7-0 lead on a 19-yard swing pass from Calvary Baptist transfer Owen Smith to Cam Davis on the opening drive, Loyola strong safety Rowan Guthikonda stopped the next Chiefs’ long march with an end zone interception.

On the final play of the half, free safety Reagan Coyle stripped away another potential Chiefs touchdown pass in the end zone. In the second half, cornerback Carter Ward had an interception to stop the Chiefs’ first drive.

Natchitoches Central was able to get back on the board later on a 2-yard run by Smith with 6:56 remaining in the second 15-minute period.

Loyola used two quarterbacks – junior Colby Hamilton and freshman Bryce Restovich – but could not pick up a first down until a roughing the passer penalty with 6:03 left.

On the next play, sophomore Mason Drake picked up a 14-yard game set up the Flyers with their deepest penetration of the night, but a fourth down pass in the end zone fell incomplete.

Natchitoches Central, with former Parkway OC Jeff Harper running the Chiefs’ offense for new head coach Jess Curtis, did not punt until three minutes remained in the game.

“What was frustrating about that was that we were there to make the tackle and just didn’t do it,” Greene said. “That hurts because those are tackles we have to make.”

The Flyers will open the season Thursday night at Independence Stadium against Captain Shreve.

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com