Looters saw ‘opportunity’ in disaster, stealing from Coast business owner after Ida
The owner of Scrap Giant in Bay St. Louis was worried about the looters after Hurricane Ida moved inland late Sunday.
Looters almost always come out after storms, when winds die and water recedes. They hit businesses and empty homes alike, even when the property owners have already lost possessions to a hurricane.
Keith Estave rode out Ida in his elevated Shoreline Park home for that reason. His was on his porch Monday, surrounded by water, but wasn’t sorry he stayed. He had seen young men on Saturday, riding through the neighborhood on bicycles to see where homes were being evacuated and would be empty, or so he suspected.
Just around the corner on Mississippi 603, the owner of Scrap Giant also worried that looters would show up. Danny Kent was anxious to check on his business Monday morning, but a curfew prevented him from arriving before dawn.
One of his employees drove by later in the morning and saw two young men loading into the bed of a white pickup truck some tires and a tire machine from Scrap Giant. Later in the morning, Kent was trying to salvage what he could outside the business, surrounded by water that had flooded vehicles parked out front.
Friend confronts looters after Hurricane Ida
A friend, Jennifer Poillion, arrived to keep an eye on his property when the white pickup truck returned. The two occupants, who appeared to be in their 20s, were loading up Scrap Giant tires that had floated to the roadside.
Poillon lit into them, yelling at one of them to put down the tire he was about to load and leave. He got in the truck and the pair drove off.
“I just reacted,” Poillon said. “I told him to throw the tire. down. It’s just sad. I think they wait to do things like this when things get hectic. They have nothing better to do but take from people when things are bad. I have no understanding. None.”
Kent said he had 140 tires on his lot and only 20 left. The tires sell for $300 to $500 a set. He was also missing the tire machine, a red tool box and a welding machine. Because of all the chaos from the flooding, he hadn’t had a chance to see if anything else was gone.
Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam says he wishes that he could lock looters in jail without bond until their court date so they wouldn’t be able to bail out and take anyone else’s property after a storm.
“There’s always opportunists — in my opinion too lazy to work for anything — and they take the opportunity to take other people’s things.”
“When someone will take advantage of someone in (disaster) situations, I don’t feel for them at all.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 10:51 AM.
