A convicted felon who snatched a purse during a choir practice Wednesday night at a Labadieville church was caught by choir members who chased him outside, the Assumption Sheriff’s Office said.
Police say Lee J. Barrient Jr., 45, 221 Ferry Road, Bourg, walked into St. Philomena Catholic Church on La. 1 about 7 p.m. and knelt to pray before grabbing a purse that belonged to a woman in the choir.
Carolyn Landry, a soprano in the choir, said Barrient knelt in the aisle and made the sign of the cross while the choir practiced. Barrient made one of the women in the choir nervous, and she started to escort her daughter out of the church when he turned to her to ask where the restroom was, Landry said.
After the woman pointed, Barrient grabbed another woman’s purse that had been left on the altar stairs.
A choir member and a former Marine who lived nearby chased Barrient, Landry said. A few other choir members took off in another direction in a car.
Landry said she was told “the ex-Marine put him in some kind of hold.” She would not give the names of either man.
Police said Barrient jumped over a resident’s fence on La. 1 and tried to throw the purse under a house, but he was caught and held in a nearby yard until Assumption deputies arrived.
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