Matt Bruce

6 days ago | theadvocate.com | Matt Bruce

A Baker woman entrusted to keep the accounting records for a small, family-owned trucking company near Central spent five years stealing checks from the business and depositing them in her bank account. Erin Jones siphoned off more than 400 checks payable to Bayou Transportation Services as part of an embezzlement scheme that netted her about $334,000 between May 2019 and April 2024.

1 week ago | theadvocate.com | Matt Bruce

A Baton Rouge woman who’s 3-year-old daughter was beaten to death after she left the girl at home unsupervised with other children was sent to prison for 18 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Dineshia Denise Yates, 27, accepted the best-interest guilty pleas during an April 10 hearing inside the 19th Judicial District Courthouse. She confessed to manslaughter and cruelty to juveniles in the February 2024 death of her toddler daughter Blessing Buckles.

1 week ago | theadvocate.com | Matt Bruce

Four family members charged in the killing of a man whose bloodied, battered body was found on the Huey P. Long Bridge in Baton Rouge pleaded not guilty to their respective charges Tuesday. Authorities allege Da’Sean Conley, 17, beat Gerard Nicholas Richard, then shot and killed him during a Feb. 12 argument because he disapproved of the 44-year-old man dating his mother. Coshelia Conley, 36, took steps to cover up for her teenage son, according to her indictment.

1 week ago | theadvocate.com | Matt Bruce

A Baton Rouge man is now facing a first-degree murder charge in the 2022 death of his 5-year-old daughter. Authorities allege Aaron Michael Hawkins, 26, killed his daughter, Summer, while disciplining her on April 6, 2022. According to an arrest report, the man “battered the victim causing fatal trauma.”He was originally indicted in June 2022 on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile.

2 weeks ago | theadvocate.com | Matt Bruce

A Louisiana foster parent who forced multiple children in his house to have sex with him for years was convicted of a slate of child molestation crimes Wednesday following a 10-day trial at the 19th Judicial District Courthouse. A jury deliberated about three hours before finding Michael Lane Hadden guilty of three counts of sexual battery with minors, three counts of molestation of a juvenile and four counts of aggravated crimes against nature.