Luling burglar sentenced to 35 years in jail

A Westwego man who police say was responsible for several burglaries in St. Charles Parish received 35 years in jail after pleading guilty to four counts of burglary.

Dwayne Blair Jr., 31, will serve his sentence without the benefit of probation or parole.

In April, authorities say Blair went on a multi-parish burglary spree that showed no signs of abating before his apprehension on April 25 by St. Charles Parish detectives. The burglaries took place during the daytime hours, and after discovering that other area agencies were experiencing similar burglaries, Sheriff Greg Champagne created a multi-agency task force to compare and share information.

Champagne said that Blair was picking his targets by spotting people who were just leaving their house. Three of the four home burglaries that occurred in St. Charles happened when people had just left their homes.

Although the initial car reported in the burglaries was s silver Toyota Corolla with Texas plates, the car reported at the scene of the fourth and final parish burglary was a silver Altima with Missouri plates.

Detectives were able to track the usage of gift cards that were stolen from one of the burglaries, which occurred on Barton Street in Luling. After finding out one of the cards was used at a gas station on Clearview Parkway in Metairie, Champagne’s detectives recovered security camera footage of a then unknown Blair at the station.

Champagne said his men began searching in the Clearview area for the car with Missouri plates and were able to track it down through a rental car location. Detectives found Blair had rented the vehicle as a co-signer with his mother and his identification picture matched the man in the security footage.

Unmarked detectives were able to locate Blair at a local hospital where he was being treated for a heart problem.

Blair has prior arrests for burglary, robbery and drug possession.