BATON ROUGE – A man who was once sentenced to punish work for stealing from an area shopping center was booked into jail again after a citizen's arrest in the Southdowns area.

David Laramie was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on criminal trespass charges after two men pursued him after they said they watched him steal from neighbors off Lee Drive Sunday night. While on the phone with 911, the two men chased Laramie down various streets for 15 minutes and once being able to stop him, held him until police arrived a short time later.

People in the Southdowns area reported various burglaries in the last few weeks, and told authorities a man matching Laramie's likeness was seen on numerous surveillance video clips rummaging through their property.

Laramie has a lengthy criminal history with arrests for burglary and drugs. A year ago, Laramie was sentenced to six months in jail for stealing from a business. But, instead of going to jail, Judge Mike Erwin allowed Laramie to write lines – similar to what happens to school children - “I will not steal other people's property” 2,500 times. Laramie also had to attend a theft deterrent class and was banned from returning to the business he stole from.

Watch more about this story on WBRZ News 2 at 5:00 and 6:00 Monday.

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