Officials: 3,000 empty sand bags stolen from Stephensville Park

Three thousand empty sand bags were recently stolen from Stephensville Park, according to St. Martin Parish government officials.

The empty sand bags had been left at the park along with sand for property owners in lower St. Martin Parish to use to protect their property from flooding. Those bags were arranged in bundles of 1,000, and each bundle was stolen at different times Tuesday and Wednesday, Parish President Chester Cedars said. Parish government leaders have reported the incidents to law enforcement authorities.

Empty sand bags and sand are still available at the park, but there's a more limited supply due to alleged theft of the 3,000 bags. Cedars doesn't know why someone would steal those empty bags, but, as a former prosecutor, he says nothing surprises him.

Officials had distributed roughly 50,000 pre-filled sand bags to residents from March 6 through Monday. At the end of Monday, officials stopped distributing pre-filled bags and removed the automatic sandbagging machine that had been on site. However, they left empty sand bags and sand, so residents could fill the bags themselves.