Flood Victim Disputes Looting Charge

A 73-year-old woman who was jailed for more than two weeks after authorities accused her of looting was released Friday evening.

Merlene Maten said the first thing she wanted to do was visit her 80-year-old husband.

“I thank God this ordeal is over,” she said after being released from the Jefferson Parish jail. “I did nothing wrong.”

Police arrested Maten on Aug. 30, the day after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, on charges she took $63.50 in goods from a deli. Her bail had been set at $50,000.

Witnesses said she had gone to her car to get some sausage when officers cuffed her. They speculated that the police acted in frustration because they were unable to catch younger people taking items from a nearby store.

Despite intervention from the nation’s largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even a private lawyer, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.

Then, hours after her plight was featured in an Associated Press article, a local judge ordered Maten freed on her own recognizance.

There will be a court hearing in October on the looting charge. But the family, armed with several witnesses, intends to prove Maten was wrongly arrested.

Defense attorney Daniel Becnel, family members and witnesses said police snared Maten in the parking lot of a hotel after floodwaters swamped her New Orleans home. She had paid for her room with a credit card and followed authorities’ instructions to pack extra food, they said.

Police Capt. Steve Carraway said Wednesday that Maten was arrested in a small store next to police headquarters.

The arrest report is short and assigns the value of goods Maten is alleged to have taken at $63.50. The items were not identified.

Christine Bishop, the deli’s owner, said she was angry that her store was damaged but would not want anyone charged if the person was seeking food to survive. “Especially not a 70-year-old woman,” Bishop said.