Felon gets prison for D'Iberville gun shop thefts

GULFPORT -- A Houma, La., felon has received the maximum prison term for stealing firearms from a licensed dealer in a break-in at Cook's Gun Shop in D'Iberville.

Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced John Ross Harold on Wednesday to 10 years in prison and fined him $10,000. Guirola ordered the federal prison term served consecutively to a state prison term in Louisiana.

Harold, 31, had been placed on a nationwide most-wanted list after the Feb. 24, 2014, theft of 25 firearms from Cook's. He also was wanted on charges including first-degree murder, home invasion and attempted commercial burglary.

His accomplice in the gun shop burglary, 29-year-old Houma resident Kevin Parfait, is serving a prison term of eight years and eight months. Parfait pleaded guilty to receiving stolen firearms. He also was fined $8,000.

The burglary was the second at Cook's in six weeks.

Harold and Parfait had been cell-mates in Louisiana and had later discussed stealing guns, court papers show.

The men first tried to burglarize a Picayune pawn shop, according to an ATF agent's testimony. The agent said the men cut the shop's phone and security-camera lines and were trying to get in a back door when the shop's alarm sounded and scared them off.

They found their way to Cook's. They disconnected the gun shop's power meter, cut the phone lines and forced their way in through a roll-down door recently replaced after the previous burglary.

Parfait used his mother's car as the getaway vehicle, which crashed when he ran from police. Parfait walked off but was soon caught. Harold was injured and left a hospital before a warrant could be secured for his arrest.

After Harold's disappearance, he allegedly was involved in an attempted murder and home invasion April 1 in Terrebonne Parish, La.

He was on the lam seven months.

Since his capture, he's been serving time in Louisiana for unauthorized use of a vehicle. Prison records show he will finish that prison term July 2, 2017.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Felon gets prison for D'Iberville gun shop thefts ."