Anonymous call from Mamou snares 2 on drug charges

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The caller to Eunice Police said somebody stole his drugs and they were headed from Mamou to Eunice.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said, “One of the identifying factors that made it easy to recognize was it didn’t have a plate and the tailgate was down.”
The gray Chevrolet pickup was stopped at about noon on La. 13 near Coburn’s.
Two people were arrested after the pickup was stopped.
They are:
— Manford Jean Marcantel, 43, 800 block of Redwood Street, Mamou. No license plate, driver’s license suspension-revocation, no insurance, possession of Schedule II drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia.
— Jessica Lejeune, 38, 600 block of Harold Street, Eunice. Possession of drug paraphernalia.
Marcantel was driving the vehicle, he said.
“While they were arresting him for the driving under suspension and started doing a pat down and search some drugs were located on him believed to be crystal meth,” Fontenot said.
Lejeune was a passenger, he said.
“When the officer was talking to her asking her to get out of the vehicle she told the officer there was a crack pipe or something under the seat or in the vehicle and handed that to the officer,” he said.
“So, she was charged as well,” he added.
As for the anonymous caller, Fontenot said he was eventually identified.
“When the officer told him about the call, he basically got upset and named the person he took the drugs from,” Fontenot said.
Charging the caller would be difficult without any other evidence, he said. “He could have given any name.”
If the caller wants to claim the drugs, “We would probably contact Evangeline Parish to see if they would want to pursue it, but it would be kind of hard to get conviction because he wasn’t caught in posession of them,” he said.
Besides, the drugs are to be sent to the crime lab, he added.
“My message to the owner of the drugs is ‘sorry, you are at a loss and I doubt the judge will order restitution,” Fontenot said.