Third person pleads guilty for role in attempted murder case

A 23-year-old woman on Monday became the third person to enter a guilty plea for her role in an alleged December 2014 brutal attack and robbery of a man in Morgan City.
Mariah Ann Grimes, 23, of Morgan City, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and had the remaining charges of attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery against her dismissed as part of a plea deal, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Saleme said. Grimes’ sentencing date is set for March 23.
Morgan City police arrested Grimes on the charges of attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and aggravated burglary in connection with a Dec. 14, 2014, attack of a 33-year-old man at his Levee Road home that left him with lacerations and cuts on different parts of his body, police said.
The 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed a bill of information indicting Grimes on the same charges she was arrested on, except that it amended the aggravated burglary charge to conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, Saleme said.
Geronimo Ramirez Martinez, Ossiel Munoz Perez, Jesus Munoz Perez and Zenen Vasquez-Chavez were also all arrested in the same case on the charges of attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and aggravated burglary.
Martinez, 29, pleaded guilty Nov. 23, 2015, to the charge of accessory after the fact to aggravated second-degree battery. On Jan. 19, Vasquez-Chavez, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.
Ossiel Perez, 29, and Jesus Perez, 31, still face charges in the case.
According to an affidavit, on Dec. 14, 2014, Morgan City police began an investigation into an armed robbery and attempted first-degree murder. The victim told police that on Dec. 13, he met Grimes at Cajun Country Lounge and told her that he sold his mobile home for $4,500, the affidavit said.
Grimes was already familiar with the location of the victim’s home, but she asked him for the address again, the affidavit stated. The victim left the lounge and went home. Early the next morning, he heard a loud knocking on his door, and the woman on the other side identified herself as Grimes, the affidavit said.
The victim didn’t open the door. But someone forced the door open, and six men entered the home, the affidavit said. The victim then fled to the rear of the home. The suspects stated that they were going to kill him and were demanding the money, the affidavit said. One suspect was armed with a pocket knife and another had a four-way lug wrench, according to the affidavit.
The suspects attacked the man so he gave up the location of the money, at which time the suspects took the money and left, the affidavit said. The victim stated that the suspects stole about $3,000 during the incident.
The victim suffered numerous lacerations throughout his body as a result of the attack, the affidavit said.
Police found a Volkswagen Jetta in the area that appeared to have blood on the passenger front door, the affidavit said. The license plate on the vehicle was registered to Martinez. Police located Martinez’s girlfriend who said that Martinez had arrived at her apartment that morning with two other men.
Martinez asked to use her vehicle, and she noticed a full garbage bag that was removed from the apartment. Martinez’s girlfriend overheard Martinez and other people speaking on the phone telling someone else they would be “picking them up,” the affidavit said.
Police found a garbage bag in a nearby Dumpster containing clothes with a large amount of blood on them and also located a four-way lug wrench in the Dumpster, the affidavit said.
According to another affidavit, police located Grimes who said a man allowed the suspects to use his car to go to the victim’s home, but the man didn’t go with the suspects. That man wasn’t charged in the case.
After leaving the victim’s home, Grimes said an unknown person picked up the suspects, who took refuge in a Terrebonne Street apartment through the night and into the morning, the affidavit said.