By Pat Culverhouse

A Cotton Valley man is being held on a charge of possession of stolen things after a Webster Parish deputy’s traffic stop revealed a stolen vehicle.

Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker said Deondray Lafayette Bragg, 40, was traveling north on U.S. 371 just before 2 p.m. Thursday when WPSO Sgt. Aaron Barnes noticed loading straps hanging outside the rear door of a U Haul van. A quick license plate check by Sgt. Barnes showed the vehicle had been reported stolen, the Sheriff said.

“The suspect told Sgt. Barnes that he had rented the U Haul in California in November of last year,” Parker said. “Bragg stated that he knew he should have returned the vehicle but had fallen on hard times and had been living in it.”

Bragg was taken into custody and is currently being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center. Parker said a hold has been placed on the van.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.