Arrest Made in Robbery, Sexual Battery Which Occurred at Pearl River-Area Store

The individual who robbed and sexually battered a clerk at a Pearl River-area convenience store has been identified and is in custody in Mississippi. Rester was arrested on Friday after he robbed the People's Bank in Waveland.

Detectives with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Major Crime Unit began working with detectives with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office after they developed information that led them to believe the individual who robbed and physically and sexually battered a clerk at a Pearl River-area convenience store on February 27 was the same individual who murdered the Bogalusa-area bar owner.

Working together, detectives with both agencies were able to identify that individual as Rester, and it did not take them long to locate him.

Detectives learned that Rester was taken into custody in Harrison County, Mississippi, Friday morning following a pursuit. He was interviewed and confessed to both murdering and robbing the Washington Parish bar owner as well as robbing and battering the Pearl River-area convenience store clerk.

Rester remains in the Harrison County Jail, where he is awaiting extradition to Louisiana.

In addition to the charges he faces in Mississippi and Washington Parish, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has obtained warrants for Rester’s arrest for armed robbery, aggravated second-degree battery and felony sexual battery.

“Criminals do not care about jurisdictional lines,” Sheriff Randy Smith said, “which is what makes communication and cooperation between agencies imperative in solving crimes and taking dangerous criminals like this one off the street. Thank you to everyone involved for the work they did to identify and arrest this individual.”