The NOPD has obtained an arrest warrant for Avery Lavender (DOB: 01-05-1991) in connection with an auto burglary that occurred on November 2, 2017 in the 1000 block of Common Street.

At about 1:27 p.m., Eighth District officers traveling southbound in the area heard an audible car alarm coming from a parking lot in the 1000 block of Common Street. Investigation led officers to discover a sedan with its security alarm activated in the western side of the parking lot as well as a male subject, later identified as Lavender, running away from the vehicle. Officers pursued Lavender on foot and subsequently apprehended him in the 100 block of South Rampart Street. 

Further investigation revealed that Lavender was wanted on charges of possession of stolen property and theft in connection with a separate vehicle burglary that occurred in the 2300 block of Annunciation Street on October 19, 2017, as well as a domestic theft incident that occurred in August of 2017. Lavender was arrested and booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center on the aforementioned warrants.  At the time, Lavender was not charged in the vehicle theft on Common Street, as the officers did not observe Lavender tamper with the vehicle and the vehicle’s owner could not be located.

On February 1, 2018, a buccal DNA swab obtained from Lavender upon the November 2017 arrest returned a match through the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab’s CODIS system, matching Lavender’s DNA to blood evidence taken from inside of the vehicle burglarized in the November 2 incident. Based on this evidence, Eighth District detectives  obtained an arrest warrant for Lavender on a charge of simple burglary of a vehicle.

Anyone with information in regards to the whereabouts of Avery Lavender is asked to contact NOPD Eighth District detectives at 504-658-6080 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.