By T. Scott Boatright
A Ruston man seen pushing a shopping cart full of items through city streets early Friday morning has been arrested on two counts of aggravated burglary.
The arresting Ruston Police Department officer reported observing Darius Traylor, of Eastland Avenue in Ruston, before 6 a.m. Friday pushing a full shopping cart on Bond Street and noticed that the subject had a Michael Kors purse draped over his shoulder.
Traylor’s arrest affidavit said the arresting officer had responded earlier that night as a backup officer at the scene of a burglary where a brown Michael Kors purse had been stolen along with various other items, including two firearms.
The officer reportedly then detained Traylor and advised him of his Miranda rights, which the officer said Traylor said he understood.
After backup officers reported observing what appeared to be a firearm in one of the bags in the grocery cart, the arresting officer said he asked Traylor if he could search the bags and Traylor consented.
The arresting office said that when he searched the Michael Kors purse, he found duct tape the victim of the burglary said would be in the purse. Traylor’s arrest report says that two guns missing from the burglarized residence were located in another bag along with several other items that had been reported to be stolen.
Still another firearm was reportedly recovered during the search but Traylor’s arrest affidavit says that he could not definitively tell officers where it came from.
After being transported to the Lincoln Parish Detention Center, Traylor allegedly admitted to an investigator that he had burglarized another residence during the night.