Strangest Items Listed on Lafayette Sheriff’s Booking Reports

Lafayette, LA (KPEL News) - Law enforcement agencies in Louisiana release arrest reports to the media daily. They typically come from sheriff's departments because suspects are booked through their facilities for most municipalities that fall within their parish. For instance, the Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office report will include bookings for Crowley, Church Point, Rayne, and so on. Lafayette Parish's report will include not only the city of Lafayette, but also Carencro, Duson, Broussard, Youngsville, and Scott.

All the press releases note pertinent information: name, age, city of listed residence, charges, and the arresting agency. Lafayette Parish takes the reporting one step further to include all the personal property a particular suspect had with them at the time of intake. Most of the items they list are fairly common, like clothing, shoes, and cell phones although the description may be strange.

What's certain is that, if you are booked into the Lafayette Parish jail, you probably won't even be able to keep your underwear. The personal items lists goes as far as noting the color of said underwear and whether it was a bra, typical underwear, or boxers. They also come in a variety of colors. Whatever they make you leave at the desk, so to speak, will be documented, in detail.

It's apparent that they do not allow anyone into the jail with personal items of any kind. They will confiscate your jewelry, and those items are noted in detail so that there is no concern about impropriety. Rings, necklaces, chains, and even nose rings make it onto the personal property list. (I can't imagine having to handle someone's nose ring or underwear, for that matter.)

A review of hundreds of these reports reveals a few head scratchers, though. Some of the more curious items are noted below.

BLUE HOSPITAL GOWN
At first glance, one might suspect that the gown's owner had just come from the hospital. That may be true, but this person was also wearing a shirt, shorts, and shoes. Hm?

2 SWISHERS
Cigarettes and vapes are logged if they are, in fact, among personal effects. The person from whom they confiscated the Swishers can rest assured that his or her property was documented properly.

SCREWS
Why? Your guess is as good as mine, but the person had them and it's documented so they can be returned to their rightful owner.

COIN ROLLS
Someone much more savvy than this author may know why a person was lugging rolls of coins around. They are definitely spendable, but why coin rolls?

COMMAND STRIPS
The woman to whom these belonged had a number of interesting items in her possession. Was there a good reason or did she have them for a more nefarious reason? I have no idea how you would commit a crime with command strips, but police have likely seen stranger things.

2 NOODLES
Again, the questions abound. Noodles as in ramen, or noodles as in pool? And why?

COURT PAPERS/RELEASE PAPERWORK
These items landed on the personal property list of two people who were arrested on active warrants. It's safe to assume they couldn't plead ignorance.

TOY CAR
To be fair, the suspect in this booking could be a parent or grand parent who planned to or was playing with a child. However, the fact that it made the sheet is evidence that the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office takes their responsibility to be accountable seriously.

CHEETAH MASK
Talk about a head scratcher, until you look at the charges for which this person was booked. Can you guess? Yeah, burglary.

If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being arrested and booked in Lafayette Parish, you can rest assured that they keep a record of everything you had to leave with officers. Let's hope you never have to go through cataloguing your personal effects for such a reason.