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Hired to haul aid, arrest in looting

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2005

Three truckers under federal contract to deliver ice and water to Hurricane Katrina survivors stole hundreds of dollars worth of Barbie dolls, underwear, appliances and other goods from a store outside New Orleans, sheriff's deputies said yesterday.

The three, all from Texas, were arrested sometime last week and were being held on looting charges, said Maj. John Marie, deputy chief of operations for the Plaque- mines Parish Sheriff's Department.

Marie said the three, along with other truck drivers, had been hauling ice and water to a drop-off spot at a parking lot outside a Family Dollar store in Plaquemines Parish, just south of New Orleans.

While sheriff's deputies guarding the area were distracted, Marie said, the three went into the storm-damaged store and filled several grocery carts "with everything from Barbie dolls to kitchen appliances to ladies' lingerie."

"It was just incredible," said Marie, adding that sheriff's officers were tipped off by another trucker, who happened to be a retired police officer.

Marie described the three as independent contractors.

He said they had been contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but a FEMA spokesman, Navy Lt. Tom Porter, said they were contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers.