Man pleads guilty to May bank robbery, leading deputies on interstate pursuit in stolen delivery car
BATON ROUGE — A man arrested in May for armed bank robbery and fleeing deputies in a stolen delivery driver's car pleaded guilty, a federal judge said Thursday.
Jonathan Wayne Lanaute, 40, pleaded guilty to robbing a Bluebonnet Boulevard branch of the United Community Bank on May 3.
Lanaute admitted to walking into the bank and passing a handwritten note to the bank teller demanding that they give him "all the money in the cash register...before everybody die(s) in here." The teller complied and Lanaute exited the bank with $20,000, the judge said.
Law enforcement then identified a vehicle he used to flee the scene, which itself was stolen during an armed robbery near the bank on Fountain Avenue the night before. After being linked to the theft of a delivery driver's car, officers attempted to pull Lanaute over and he led deputies on a pursuit that resulted in the car driving into oncoming traffic.
Lanaute then ran another car off the road and drove in the wrong direction on the interstate, court records said. The pursuit of the vehicle ended when Lanaute crashed head-on into another car on the interstate before leading an on-foot pursuit. When deputies apprehended him, he was found with more than $8,200.
When he was arrested in May, Lanaute was charged with first-degree robbery and aggravated flight from an officer for the bank robbery and armed robbery for the carjacking.
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Deputies also believed Lanaute was connected to several shootings, robberies and a carjacking.