NEW ORLEANS – A man who was accused in a string of armed robberies on Carrollton Avenue and the Uptown area in 2016 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after entering a guilty plea Monday, according to the district attorney’s office.
Kenneth N. Barnes, 49, pleaded guilty to 22 counts involving robberies or firearms possession from Feb. 2016 through Oct. 2016.
Barnes pleaded to robbing several businesses, including the Drew Brees-owned Jimmy Johns location on Maple Street. Other businesses robbed by Barnes include: Smoothie King in the 200 block of North Carrollton Avenue, a Rite Aid drug store in the 1100 block of South Carrollton Avenue, the Maple Street Bookstore in the 7500 block of Maple Street, the Rite Aid in the 7100 block of St. Charles Avenue, a GNC in the 400 block of North Carrollton Avenue, a Baskin-Robbins in the 700 block of South Carrollton Avenue, Ale on Oak in the 8100 block of Oak Street, and a Shell gas station in the 600 block of South Carrollton Avenue.
"We are truly fortunate that none of these robberies and burglaries ended in someone's injury or death," said District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. "In several of these instances, that outcome was but a trigger-squeeze away. Cases such as this illustrate why the use and sale of illegal narcotics in our city should not so easily be dismissed as a 'victimless crime.'"
