Chalmette man booked with 11 vehicle burglaries; Witness saw him leave two cars at 2 a.m. and he was arrested; Probe tied him to 9 others the same night

A Chalmette man has been booked with 11 vehicle burglaries that happened early Jan. 13 after he was initially arrested after a witness saw him leave two cars at 2 a.m. and a follow-up investigation by sheriff’s detectives linked him to nine other break-ins the same night, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Jason Knight, 33, whose home address was listed on Rosetta Drive, Chalmette, but he had just moved in with his sister at 2025 Octavia St., is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of bond set at $44,500. Some stolen property was recovered.

Knight has a criminal history that includes arrests for burglary, shoplifting and drugs, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

A witness on Octavia Street reported he saw a man get in and out of two vehicles parked in a driveway on Octavia Street just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 13, and approached and asked what he was doing. The man said he had the permission of the owners to go in the vehicles, the sheriff said, but the witness, who knew the owners of the vehicles was suspicious and saw the man he spoke with walk to 2025 Octavia and go inside.

Then the witness went to the home of the owners to tell them what happened and they said no one had permission to be in their vehicles and the Sheriff’s Office was called and they reported a small amount of money had been stolen, the sheriff said.

When deputies immediately went to 2025 Octavia a woman there said her brother, Jason Knight, who had just moved in the day before, was inside, but Knight fled out the back door when he saw officers and was caught by Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Spadoni.

Knight was initially booked with those two burglaries as well as with resisting an officer.

But later Sunday morning numerous others in the neighborhood began reporting their vehicles had been entered and rummaged through, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Also, a the owner of a nearby business on East St. Bernard Highway just east of Paris Road said his surveillance system showed someone walking and pulling on door handles of several vehicles in the area and entering vehicles, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Knight was identified as the man shown on the surveillance system and he was seen carrying a backpack he didn’t have when later arrested, the sheriff said.

The backpack, determined to have been stolen in one burglary, was found near another burglarized vehicle and inside were contents from still other burglaries, including the vehicle registration to a car that had been burglarized, the sheriff said. Knight apparently dropped the backpack in his haste.

Sheriff’s Detective Michael Schiro booked Knight with the additional nine burglary counts on Monday, after he was in Parish Prison.

Also, Sheriff Pohlmann noted that residents should remember to lock their vehicles because, as in the great majority of vehicle burglaries in St. Bernard Parish, nearly all the ones burglarized were unlocked, leaving them easy prey for people who walk around at night pulling on door handles until they find an unlocked ones to enter.