A Louisiana man has been arrested and charged with stealing thousands of dollars in children’s Christmas presents in a series of December residential burglaries.
Forrest County, Mississippi, detectives contacted police in Westwego, Louisiana, on December 18 about a series of burglaries in that county that took place the day before, the Westwego Police Department said.
“These burglaries resulted in the theft of several thousand dollars’ worth of children’s Christmas gifts, electronics, and firearms across three separate incidents,” the department said.
The Mississippi detectives had tracked one of the stolen iPads to a home in Westwego and provided the Louisiana detectives with an image of a vehicle fleeing the scene.
Officers searched the Westwego home on December 19 and found “three iPads, two laptops, four firearms, a substantial collection of children’s toys, all of which were positively identified as stolen property from the burglaries in Forrest and Lamar Counties, Mississippi.”
Investigators determined Dwayne Blair Jr. was the suspect in the burglaries, but he had fled the Westwego home before detectives arrived on the scene.
Officers found him in Gretna on Thursday and took him into custody. He’s been charged with possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen firearm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Charges in Mississippi are pending.
