Posted on 09/07/2005 3:47:42 PM PDT by naturalman1975
An Australian man missing in the hurricane-devastated US city of New Orleans has been found safe and well, in jail.
Tourist Ashley McDonald, of Narre Warren in Melbourne's south-east, was arrested in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit last week but was but transferred out of the devastated city, his sister Jasmine Mutnansky said this morning.
"They evacuated the prisoners and they were scattered all over...," He has turned up in Huntsville (in Alabama).
"It's not the most classy ending, but I'm glad he's safe and sound and it's over," she said.
A spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed officials had made contact with Mr McDonald but would not elaborate.
The Australian Federal Police, who are in New Orleans in a liaison capacity to assist the Australian consulate confirmed this morning that they had located the missing man.
Police had earlier recovered Mr McDonald's credit cards and driver's licence in a hotel room in Baton Rouge but fears for his safety increased when they were unable to find him.
Wallet mystery
Ms Mutnansky said police discovered three people at the Baton Rouge hotel had used Mr McDonald's credit card.
But no charges were laid because the three told local police Mr McDonald had given them his wallet voluntarily while they were drinking at a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on August 27 - the day he arrived in New Orleans and was arrested.
Ms Mutnansky said he was most likely arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct.
"He probably had one too many and got loud - it wouldn't have been anything serious," Ms Mutnansky said from her home in Tennessee.
Ms Mutnansky said her brother appeared to have lost his wallet in a mugging before his arrest.
Mr McDonald, 30, was the last Australian tourist believed to missing on the US Gulf Coast.
A further five Australians who remain unaccounted for are all long-term New Orleans residents.
Mr McDonald had planned to start his US holiday in the French Quarter of New Orleans before visiting his sister in nearby Tennessee.
He had not made contact with his family since arriving in the city.
Mr McDonald's parents, Sharon Thomas and Doug McDonald, rushed to the United States earlier this week and began searching the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
'We thought he was dead'
The family feared the worst when Mr McDonald's credit cards and identification were traced to the hotel but Australian and local police and a consular official did not find him there.
Ms Mutnansky said her parents had given up the search in despair and decided to fly to Tennessee to be with her and grieve.
"We honestly thought he was dead when they found his credit card and spoke to those three," she said.
"My parents thought there was no point staying in Houston."
"But then a federal police officer called me and said he had good news - (Ashley) got arrested.
"It's a real happy ending, but it's not a glamorous ending."
Ms Mutnansky said she would break the good news to her parents when they arrived in Tennessee in two hours.
Maximum security
Mr McDonald was in jail in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit, a prison spokeswoman in the US said today.
He was now in the maximum security Elayn Hunt Correctional Centre at St Gabriel, Louisiana, after being evacuated from the New Orleans Parish Prison.
Hunt spokeswoman Angela Whittaker said the evacuation of the New Orleans prison began on Tuesday, the day after the hurricane hit, and took four days to complete.
"When the hurricane hit we evacuated New Orleans Parish Prison and anyone who had been arrested was brought here for processing and safekeeping," she said.
"Currently we are working with the State Attorney-General's office to set up a process by which those inmates will have their legal hearing."
"That is going to be happening in the next couple of days so he will have his hearing, and once that process is worked out we will take action based on that hearing.
"I'm sure he is doing fine, but probably not happy about being here."
Ms Whittaker said she did not have access to Mr McDonald's charges but said although Hunt was a maximum security prison, his charges were not necessarily serious.
"It is just a matter of processing all those people in an emergency," she said.
kept a drunk in jail and let the real local crimmanls back out on the street.
police in BR must have been trained by the NOPD. They go to a hotel and get a story about the aussie giving them his wallet and they let them go. classic police work.
Hehe. Good news bump!
*hiccup*
D&D in NO seems to be contradiction in terms to me.....
Sadly no... NO's finest hard at work.
Otis Campbell! Back when it was ok to be a drunk....
You have never seen a drunk until you've seen a drunk Australian ... and G-D forbid you ever see a bunch of them!
Remember when Barney Fife tried to set Otis up for a drunk driving charge?
Sis - if you're reading this and I turn up missing, f'Petessake don't tell Mom I wound up in jail. Tell her something less stressful, like I got et by a 'gator...
Arrested for being loud and drunk in New Orleans? Now, I've heard some incredible things, but that has got to be near the top of the most bogus, ludicrous statements ever.
Love it! It's embarassing but he's alive, so who cares?
Uh, you can't use someone else's credit card, whether or not he gave it to you "voluntarily". That's fraud.
Obviously there are some with the New Orleans PD who are as corrupt as the criminals.
That's like getting a speeding ticket at the Indy 500... a citation for indecent exposure at a nudist colony... slapped with a noise ordinance violation at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally... (you get the idea)
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in Lubbock and Austin tonight. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas yesterday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
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