The Bogalusa Rotary Club announced at Tuesday’s weekly meeting that Sgt. Jimmy Seals had been named as the club’s 2017-18 Deputy of the Year.

“We’re excited to do this and we always have a deserving winner,” said club president Larry Miller.

Sheriff Randy Seal introduced Seals, who he noted does an excellent job overseeing the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office evidence room. Seal said that the sergeant was also the one who primarily broke the April 2017 case involving gunshots that were aimed at several houses in Mt. Hermon.

“We were at a roadblock,” Seal said. “We turned it over to Jimmy, and he solved that case. Jimmy is an example of ‘the harder you work, the luckier you become.’”

Seals began his career in law enforcement with the Franklinton Police Department. He was serving as the DARE program leader when Seal became sheriff, but was then transferred to the evidence room and also serves as an investigating detective for the WPSO.

“This is not just my award,” Seals said. “Without everybody in the sheriff’s office working together, there’s no way we would have solved that crime.”

Seals said that he was able to crack the case through interviews of young people in Franklinton and Mt. Hermon, and also by getting a warrant to investigate one of the young suspects’ cell phones.

The suspects were arrested in September 2017. They were three Franklinton teenagers — a 19-year-old, an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old. Each is charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault by drive-by shooting, aggravated criminal damage to property and attempted manslaughter.

Seal said that there were no injuries from the shooting incidents, but some of the victims are still suffering mental stress and anguish from close calls.