Bad-luck suspect arrested after failed robbery, wreck

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Just about everything went wrong for a Louisiana woman when she tried to rob a bar, authorities say.

Barbara Boyd, manager at Linda’s Lounge in Lake Charles, said the bartender told her that the woman entered about 5:50 a.m. Saturday with what appeared to be a rifle and demanded money.

“She wanted to get in the register, and the bartender wouldn’t let her. She grabbed the tip jar and took off,” Boyd said in a phone interview Monday. “One of our customers tackled her and she threw him off and took off in the car.”

It crashed a few miles away, while officers were still at the robbery scene, Deputy Chief Mark Kraus said Monday. Kraus said in a phone interview that he did not yet know details about the wreck. Police are not releasing details about the apparent firearm, he said.

Boyd said she was told it may have been a BB gun.

Police said in a news release that Keeshala Demetra Jacobs, 39, of Lake Charles was arrested on an armed robbery charge, and her bond is set at $100,000.

Investigators learned she’d taken her roommate’s car and bank card, police said.

Kraus said he did not know whether Jacobs had an attorney who could comment.

Boyd said it was the first time anyone has ever robbed the bar, or even tried to — and it’s been open for decades. But she was impressed by the police response.

“They were here in minutes,” she said.