Uptown robberies, carjackings show direct links to bloodier crimes, but police hope recent arrests slow the wave

A wave of robberies and carjackings since the holidays may be feuling some of Uptown’s bloodier feuds, but police officials are hoping a number of recent arrests and ongoing investigations will slow the rapid pace of muggings.

More than a dozen armed robberies have been reported in the Uptown-based Second and Sixth police districts since Jan. 1, a pace of more than one a day so far this year. But arrests have been made in at least five of them with direct links to three others, police say.

“These apprehensions will slow the robberies,” said NOPD Sixth District Commander Bob Bardy during Thursday’s weekly meeting of his district’s ranking officers.

– Two robberies that appear to be closely related took place in the Irish Channel and Garden District on Saturday and Sunday, Bardy said. In the first, about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, a victim in the 2800 block of Constance was robbed of a blue Toyota Highlander. The following day, shortly before 10 p.m., the same vehicle showed up in the 1200 block of 7th Street, and a gunman got out and took the victim’s white Toyota Tundra, before both vehicles drove off.

The Tundra had a tracking system, however, and police were able to stop it and arrest two people inside it, 17-year-old Darrin Riles and 19-year-old Darren Nealy, with Nealy identified at the gunman. They have not been charged in the first case, but the two are obviously connected, police said.

“There’s a link there because the vehicle that was stolen was used in this one,” said Detective Kristen Krzemieniecki of the NOPD Sixth District persons-crimes division.

– Police also identified and arrested a juvenile suspect in a robbery in the 3200 block of St. Thomas, also in the Irish Channel. The victim in that case knew the attacker, and was able to tell police where to locate him, Krzemieniecki said.

– Kevin Calhoun, 19, has been charged with multiple offenses following his arrest shortly after a Wednesday night carjacking at Washington and Constance. He was also found to have marijuana and powder cocaine on him, and the gun he used was discovered to have been stolen.

– After three robberies along the South Carrollton corridor earlier this week, police arrested 17-year-old Latesha Williams, who is cooperating with the investigation, said Sgt. Chris Billiot of the NOPD Second District persons crimes division. Two teenage males were detained at the same time, but they have since been eliminated as suspects. Sixth District detectives are also involved in the case, they said Thursday.

– Police also captured Sedrick Simms after a manhunt following an armed robbery in the 500 block of Austerlitz.

– In another robbery of dominos players in the 2400 block of Dryades, police are arranging for a sketch of the suspect that can be released to the public.

A pattern that seems to be emerging is that the vehicles taken in the carjackings are being used in the ongoing neighborhood feuds that lead to shootings and murders, Bardy said. In one obvious case, the Highlander taken at gunpoint on Constance was used the following day for a second carjacking on Seventh Street. But in the third case in that area, Bardy said the black BMW taken Wednesday was actually tracked heading first into River Gardens, then up to the Magnolia area — two neighborhoods with rival groups caught in an ongoing feud that has resulted in three shootings in a row near Magnolia and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Bardy said it’s too early to say why the suspect was going from one area to another, but that it is a cause for concern.

In late November, police also said a car taken at gunpoint from Upperline Street in Broadmoor was likely used in a homicide near a school in the Carrollton area the following day, and Bardy said that ongoing homicide investigations since then also involve vehicles taken in carjackings.