New Orleans man who cut off ankle monitor is back in custody ...

A man who was sought by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office after he cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared Wednesday has turned himself in, Sheriff Marlin Gusman announced Thursday afternoon. Henry Brooks, 25, turned himself at Criminal District Court about 9:45 a.m., Gusman's office said in a news release.

Brooks was under house arrest and ordered to wear an ankle monitor while awaiting trial on charges of illegal carrying of a weapon while in possession of a controlled substance. He will now face new charges of criminal damage to property and tampering with a monitoring device, the sheriff said.

Gusman's news release said that sheriff's deputies "tracked Brooks through the night of Oct. 17 and worked with Brooks and his family to bring him into custody." The release did not say how deputies were tracking Brooks, given that he had apparently shed his monitor.

The latest incident comes at a time when the use of ankle monitors is under heavy scrutiny. Two weeks ago, a teenager wearing a similar monitoring device was arrested in connection with a carjacking and armed robbery. In that case, there was no evidence of tampering with the device; the monitor simply stopped functioning, the Sheriff's Office said.

Last week, Gusman said at least one deputy was facing a disciplinary charge after receiving several phone and email alerts about the monitor dysfunction and apparently either overlooking them, or not following up with the proper people.

Gusman issued another news release earlier this week to note that a man wearing an ankle monitor had been injured in a shooting. That man had not violated the rules of his monitoring, the sheriff said.

In a news release Wednesday, Gusman said that "it is unrealistic to think that every individual that is assigned to the electronic monitoring program will not violate curfew or other restrictions established by the city's courts." He added: "Seventy-five percent of the individuals enrolled in this program have participated to their trial date without incident."

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/new_orleans_man_who_cut_off_an.html

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