Baldwin police seize stolen firearms, drugs from nabbed burglary suspects

Dangerous weapons and more criminals are off the streets of one community in St. Mary Parish after the Baldwin Police Department recently seized stolen handguns, a rifle, high-capacity magazines, narcotics and other items from two reported habitual offenders over the holiday weekend.
Baldwin Police Chief Harry Smith said the seizure was one of the largest he has seen in his career in law enforcement. The items were recovered from two teenage suspects who were taken into custody after a brief attempt to elude authorities.
The items recovered included a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, a .380 semi-automatic handgun, a .22 caliber rifle, multiple magazines including high-capacity magazines, a laptop computer, narcotics, drug paraphernalia and dozens of rounds of ammunition.
The suspects in the case were Devon Marks, 19, of Baldwin, who was charged with simple burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft, possession of firearms with obliterated number, trespass, resisting arrest and theft of firearm as well as De’Andre Youman, 17, of Baldwin, who was charged with simple burglary, theft, possession of stolen firearms, resisting arrest and trespass.
Smith said he was glad to have the weapons off the streets, to have apprehended repeat offenders that had burglarized several vehicles in the Baldwin area and that he hoped in the future to use the event as an educational tool to teach local youths that crime in Baldwin does not pay.
Smith said the suspects were in the process of attempting another burglary when they were apprehended.
“They were attempting to break into a residence again,” Smith said. “They took off running and we chased them. We cornered the suspects and took them into custody.”
Smith said all of the weapons seized were stolen. After the arrest, a search warrant was issued for one of the suspect’s residences and the other items including the computer, drug paraphernalia and narcotics were found. Smith said the seizure was the largest he had seen during his year-and-a-half long tenure as Chief of the Baldwin Police Department.
“I’ve seen some this size in my years of law enforcement but as chief for the last year and six months, this is the first that I’ve seized this much evidence,” Smith said. “This is happening all over the place. We are going to try and use this to raise awareness. We want to use this to send a message.”