Baton Rouge Man Arrested for Stolen License Plate & Failure to Register

A Baton Rouge man was arrested on October 9, after a traffic stop for a stolen license plate and failure to register as a sex offender. It was at 11:30 p.m. that deputies with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office stopped a van near Highway 171 and LaVergne Road in Moss Bluff after learning the van had a stolen license plate displayed.

According to a media release, deputies spoke with the driver and passenger before learning the owner of the van was asleep in the cargo area. Deputies spoke with the owner who told them he didn't have an ID, and that he was self-employed and living in the area out of his van months at a time while working. The van owner told deputies the stolen license plate was on the van when he purchased it months ago, and that he never registered the van in his name. Further investigation resulted in deputies finding "meth and drug paraphernalia containing marijuana inside the van", to which the owner said was his.

The owner of the van gave deputies a fake name twice. He was arrested and transported to the Calcasieu Correctional Center. Before arriving to CCC, the man gave deputies his true identity, Ronnie S. Woods, 55, Baton Rouge, LA, and advised he had an outstanding warrant in Baton Rouge.  Deputies verified his identify and learned Woods was a convicted sex offender and had an active warrant out of East Baton Rouge Parish for failure to register as a sex offender.

Woods should have registered as a sex offense in Calcasieu Parish due to him staying and visiting, putting him in violation of his sex offender registration requirements, said the media release. Woods is also required to have a sex offender identification card, which he did not have, further putting him in violation.

Woods was booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged with illegal possession of stolen things less than $1,000; possession of CDS II; possession of marijuana; possession of drug paraphernalia; resisting an officer by refusal to ID; failure to register and notify as a sex offender; and failure to comply with sex offender identification requirements. A judge set his bond at $55,000.

Woods was convicted of aggravated oral sexual battery back in 1999 in East Baton Rouge Parish. He was also convicted of molestation of a juvenile in 2007 in East Baton Rouge Parish, and failure to register as a sex offender in 2007 in the 21st Judicial District.