Thanks to several lucky breaks for the Slidell Police Department that included an incriminating cell phone and an application for an Alabama driver’s license, Slidell detectives were able to find and arrest a Mississippi couple for a Feb. 15 convenience store robbery.

Keith A. Wade, 49, and Lisa H. Wade, 48, 6080 Russ Road, Pearlington, Miss., were arrested in Opelika, Ala., by Alabama State Police on Monday, and each were charged with theft over $500 after they allegedly stole $5,000 from the Circle K convenience store on Front Street in Slidell.

Slidell police spokesman, Capt. Kevin Foltz, said on Feb. 15, the Circle K manager discovered the drop safes in the store were short by $5,000. The manager looked at the store’s surveillance videotape and saw employee Lisa Wade allegedly stuffing money into her pockets. Further along in the tape, the manager saw Keith Wade walk into the store. According to the manager, Wade had been barred from the store after he had been fired earlier in the week.

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The manager went to the police with the tape, but detectives could not find the Wades and issued arrest warrants, charging them both with theft over $500.

Slidell detectives got a break on the case Feb. 20 when a worker from the Arkansas Highway Department found a discarded cell telephone on the highway near Dell, Ark. Arkansas authorities discovered the phone belonged to the Wades, and they called the Slidell Police, who had the phone mailed to them.

Detectives got another break when they found text messages on the phone describing the robbery and how much money had been taken.

Then, according to Foltz, the Wades made their biggest mistake. On March 17, Keith Wade went to the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles in Opelika and applied for a driver’s license.

While performing a background check on Wade, DMV workers discovered he was wanted in Slidell for theft. The DMV alerted the Alabama State Police, and Keith Wade was arrested. Wade told police his wife was waiting in the DMV parking lot inside his van. Lisa Wade was also taken into custody, and both were taken back to Slidell.

Foltz said Wade told detectives he and Lisa left Slidell on the night of the alleged robbery and went to Arkansas. They threw out their cell phone, because Wade thought the police could track them through it.

While in Arkansas, they left their getaway car in a parking lot and bought a van with part of the stolen money. Wade said he and his wife used up the rest of the money on new tires, hotels and food.

So the couple decided to go to Opelika, Ala., to see Keith Wade’s brother, who was a pastor at a local church. However, the Wades couldn’t find the brother in Opelika.

That’s when Keith Wade decided to apply for an Alabama driver’s license, which led to the arrest.

The couple have been taken to the St. Tammany Parish Jail, where they will stay in lieu of a $7,500 bond on each of them.