Suspect in robberies cleared
Charges dismissed after DNA points to second suspect
By jason brown
Acadiana bureau
July 24, 2012
LAFAYETTE — P olice have asked the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office to dismiss charges against a Freeport, Texas, man who was arrested last year in two bank robberies.
Kimrick Lewis is no longer believed to be responsible for those crimes in Lafayette, police spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton said in a news release Tuesday.
The news comes five days after Sulphur police contacted Lafayette police regarding a suspect who could have been involved in an April bank robbery in Lafayette. That bank robbery shared many similarities with the two bank robberies in 2011 that Lewis was a suspect in, Mouton said.
Despite the similarities, investigators could not produce sufficient evidence at the time to eliminate Lewis as a suspect in the 2011 bank robberies, Mouton said.
That changed Monday after detectives traveled to Calcasieu Parish to take a DNA sample from Malcom Jarmal Scott, 27, of Houston, who had been arrested in two armed robberies in the Sulphur area, Mouton said.
After an interview, investigators said they believed that Scott was responsible for all three robberies in Lafayette, Mouton said.
Investigators immediately contacted the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office to ask that the charges against Lewis be dropped, Mouton said.
District Attorney Mike Harson wrote in an email Tuesday that his office had dismissed the charges against Lewis.
Online jail records indicate that Lewis remained incarcerated as of Tuesday afternoon. He was arrested and booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on Oct. 22.
Lewis remains incarcerated on a hold out of Brazoria County, Texas, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Kip Judice said.
“He signed a waiver of extradition today and they now have 10 days to come pick him up,” Judice said, adding that he did not know what charges Lewis faced out of Brazoria County.
Investigators issued three arrest warrants for Scott on Tuesday in the three bank robberies, Mouton said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.