Savoie
Jason Savoie, 34, of Emerson, Arkansas, entered a plea of guilty to one count of simple burglary and was sentenced by 26th Judicial District Judge Michael O. Craig to 12 years at hard labor with the Louisiana Department of Corrections, suspended, with five years active supervised probation.
He must pay $33, 780 in restitution to five people and companies he is accused of stealing from. He must also pay restitution to any insurance claims, according to court documents. His time is to run concurrent with his sentence in Claiborne Parish, and his probation time is to run consecutive to Claiborne.
Review has been set for Nov. 21.
Savoie was arrested by the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office in 2013 on three counts of simple burglary for burglarizing an Echo Powerline truck. Two of those counts were dismissed in court this week.
In July 2013, Savoie was arrested by the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office for five counts of criminal trespass, five counts of criminal damage to property and five counts of copper theft.
An investigation in conjunction with detectives from XTO Energy, the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department linked Savoie to thefts and burglaries in all three jurisdictions, according to reports from The Guardian-Journal in Homer.
Webster Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland says he’s satisfied with the sentence as Craig sentenced him to the maximum.
“As I recall, this thief was arrested for a series of thefts, but our office charged him with a burglary because the potential penalty was higher,” he said. “And the judge sentenced him to the maximum sentence. Whether he pays anything back is yet to be seen; we always try to make our victims whole again, but the chances of him being able to make restitution while he is in prison are slim.”
A phone call to public defender Ivan Daigs was unreturned as of press time.