It was free Capri Sun for everyone Tuesday morning at the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office in Covington.

Burglary victims showed up to receive the free fruit juice because it was three containers of the product that led to the arrest of four Slidell burglars who preyed on houses along Louisiana Highway 41 near Bush.

Hearing about the capture, the Capri Sun company decided all the victims should be given a gift of a free case of Capri Suns in celebration of the arrests.

Kelly Russell, left, takes possession of a 9mm handgun that was stolen from his house in May from St. Tammany Sheriff'€™s Office from Detective Melissa Sperling Tuesday at the Sheriff'€™s Office in Covington. Vincent Cormier, another victim, is in the back. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

On May 24, the Sheriff’s Office arrested Thomas Inman, 24, William Inman, 17, Christina Perronne, 21, all living at 1507 Hickory St. in Slidell, and Brian Kelly, 17, 441 Fourth St., Pearl River, for a string of burglaries near Bush. The quartet is accused of stealing more than $100,000 worth of electronic equipment, guns, jewelry and cellular phones and hundreds of CDs and DVDs. The four are also charged with a home burglary in Picayune, Miss.

Thanks to a camera mounted on a tree near the house of Gary Scamardo, who lives on La. 41, detectives were able to capture the brazen bandits.

The quartet had broken into Scamardo’s house in early May. When he came home and found his house ransacked, he checked the camera and saw the four breaking into his house. Scamardo said the thieves only took three packets of Capri Sun from a case in his refrigerator, but left all his electronics and jewelry in place.

Detectives traced the thieves to Slidell from the car’s license plate number and found three Capri Sun packets in the suspects’ refrigerator. The packets numbers matched the lot number on Scamardo’s case, plus the suspects’ fingerprints were on the containers.

At Tuesday’s ceremony, burglary victim Kelly Russell, who lives in Goodbee, got back his 9mm handgun that had been allegedly stolen by the four suspects.

He is still missing a .22 caliber handgun and a cellular phone. He was happy to get his gun back but doesn’t think highly of the burglars.

“They were not too bright. They took two half-empty bottles of liquor, but left two full ones,” Russell said. “Plus, they left over $80 in pennies.”

Capt. Barney Tyrney said 80 percent of the stolen property has been returned to its rightful owners. However, Detective Melissa Sperling said there are still four missing guns.

Charlene King, grandmother to victim Gregory King, said her grandson had over 16 hunting rifles stolen by the four suspects. Most of the rifles had been returned. The thieves also stole King’s camcorder and used it to tape themselves bragging about the burglaries as they went to a pawn shop to hock some of the stolen jewelry.

The four suspects are still in the St. Tammany Jail. Sperling said Thomas Inman and Christina Perronne are going before a judge today in hopes of getting their bail reduced. But even if that succeeds, they will still have to be transferred to Picayune, Miss., where they face burglary charges.

Detective Corey Crowe said his department is still trying to find the missing guns and wants to return all the stolen property to its owners. People who think they may have been a victim of these burglaries should call Detective Sperling at 646-4163.

Capri Sun has not finished its giveaway. Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. representatives from Capri Sun will give away free packets to anyone who comes to the St. Tammany Justice Center in Covington.