BATON ROUGE - Deputies arrested a man accused of setting a home on Fairfields Ave. on fire deliberately.

Jonathan Washington was charged with aggravated arson in relation to the February 9 blaze, which damaged the exterior of a house in the 3000 block of Fairfields Avenue around 10 p.m. Officials said two people occupied the home.

Baton Rouge Fire Department officials determined someone had poured an accelerant around the house and ignited the area.

Officials said one of the victims was inside his home when he heard a man screaming outside. He went outside and saw a man, later identified as Washington, screaming the name of a female friend that had been staying at the home, hiding from the defendant. The victim allegedly told Washington to leave and that he was calling the police.

Later, the victim reentered the home and heard a noise outside. Deputies said when he went back outside, he saw a line of fire around his home and observed Washington running away. The victim told officials he had not seen anyone else in his yard or on the block.

Arrest records suggest the fire was on the grass across the front and side of the house. The fire blocked the people inside from exiting burglar bar doors and windows on the building.

Fire investigatiors said Washington turned himself in to law enforcement Thursday morning.

PRAIRIEVILLE - Deputies are on the hunt for a pair of beer-swiping bandits in Ascension Parish.

According to the sheriff's office, the heist happened Monday night at the Walmart on Airline Highway in Prairieville.

Deputies say a man and woman wearing all-dark clothing walked into the store and loaded up their cart with $170 worth of beer. Surveillance video shows the woman sprinting out of the store with the stolen alcoholic beverages and loading them into a grey SUV. The man follows behind moments later, getting into the car and speeding out of the parking lot.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office at 225-621-4636 or text 847411 to the anonymous tip line.

BATON ROUGE- Data specific to the Capital Region does not exist, but East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore believes guns used in many of the area's violent crimes are often stolen from law-abiding citizens.

"We haven't tracked it specifically in Baton Rouge, but nationwide data shows they do come out of peoples homes and cars," said Moore.

The DA spoke at a community meeting for the Greater City Park neighborhood which includes the Garden District. He was joined by BRPD Chief Murphy Paul, the mayor, and two councilmembers.

Residents at the meeting asked for better police protection to curb burglaries in the neighborhoods. Police said their priority is addressing violent crime which keeps officers busy most of the time.

In 2017, East Baton Rouge Parish had the highest number of homicides in its history. This year, there are already eight more murders compared to the same time last year.

To combat the violence, law enforcement is restarting a version of the BRAVE program to target the small number of young men involved in gangs or similar groups. They are also soliciting donations from businesses to finance crime cameras and shot detector technology.

They are asking people to lock their doors both on homes and vehicles to prevent more stolen weapons from ending up on the street.

BATON ROUGE - A couple has been arrested after a suspicious package led investigators to a Baton Rouge apartment loaded with drugs last week.

According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, narcotics agents began looking into the apartment in the 2400 block of Brightside Drive after they were notified of a package sent to that residence from an unknown Belgium address. Homeland Security obtained a warrant and checked the package, which contained 991 doses of ecstasy.

Officers seized the ecstasy and began surveillance on the home that was the package's intended destination. After watching people come and go from the apartment, the officers knocked on the front door and confronted the inhabitants.

The sheriff's office says the agents asked for permission to enter and, once inside, spotted a large amount of marijuana in plain view in Noelle Curole's bedroom. Curole, her boyfriend Christian Richard, and a third roommate then reportedly gave consent for the officers to search the rest of the apartment.

In Curole and Richard's shared bedroom, agents found 274.6 grams of marijuana, 43.9 grams of marijuana "wax", 4.2 pounds of marijuana butter, 29.4 grams of cocaine, and $1,078 cash. Officers also found a digital scale, a grinder, rolling paper, and empty pill capsules.

Curole admitted to owning the drugs in her bedroom but claimed the package of ecstasy was intended for a friend who was just making use of her mailbox.

Both were booked on drug possession and distribution charges.