The St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office arrested a Pearl River man and a Belle Chasse man is in custody in another parish, awaiting extradition, for an array of charges stemming from an eight-month long investigation.
In May 2021, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office received numerous reports of catalytic converter thefts from self-storage units, auto dealerships, and personal vehicles. Detectives investigated all of the cases over the last eight months and gathered substantial evidence indicating the two suspects were involved. Arrest warrants were then obtained on Bryan Vincent Castro of Belle Chasse and Ansel J Brassette of Pearl River.
Bryan Vincent Castro was charged with 1 count of theft of over $5K but less than $25K, 4 counts of unauthorized entry of a place of business, 7 counts of simple criminal damage to property between the values of $1K to $50K, 8 counts of theft of over $1K but less than $5K, and 2 counts of simple burglary.
Ansel J Brassette was charged with 11 counts of illegal possession of stolen things, less than $1K, 1 count of principal to a crime, 4 counts of criminal conspiracy, 1 count of theft over $5K but less than $25K, 4 counts of inciting a felony, and 1 count of illegal possession of stolen things between the values of $5K to $25K.
Brassette was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center; however Castro, who is presently incarcerated in another Louisiana parish, will be formally booked upon his extradition to St. Tammany.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives are still investigating thefts of catalytic converters and have notified neighboring agencies of their findings. Detectives have learned in addition to many areas of Louisiana being affected by the theft of catalytic converters, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have reported a particularly high number of these thefts as well.