City police arrest pawn shop owner

The purported owner of Doug’s Pawn Shop at 601 Superior Ave. has been charged with the buying and selling of a motor vehicle with a removed or obliterated vehicle identification number (VIN), after the Bogalusa Police Department assisted the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office with a stolen vehicle investigation.

Nathaniel Hickman, 26, 19074 Lee Road, Franklinton, was also charged with failure to keep records of motor vehicle sales, said BPD spokesman Capt. Joe Culpepper.

“We got a complaint from the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office that they had a motorcycle reported stolen, and had information it had been pawned at Doug’s,” he said.

Both law enforcement agencies then paid a visit to the pawn shop, found the motorcycle on-site and discovered it also did not have the required VIN, said Culpepper.

It was additionally discovered that the victim, a St. Tammany Parish resident, had originally purchased the motorcycle from Doug’s, he said.

Culpepper said the victim must have known the motorcycle didn’t have a VIN because on the paperwork it was noted that the VIN was “NA” or not available.

The STPSO has identified the person who stole the motorcycle and then pawned it back to the place it had been purchased, said Culpepper. He was not sure if the suspect had yet been arrested.