Richard B. Breaux (via opsco.org)
After years of arrests on charges of burglary and other crimes, a man who police say broke into a Chestnut Street home twice now faces a long prison sentence, authorities said Wednesday.
On Aug. 19, a home in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street was broken into and a laptop, credit cards, cell phone and keys to the family’s Honda Pilot were all taken, said Lt. Mike Montalbano, interim commander of the NOPD Second District. Several area gas stations caught video of the vehicle after credit cards were used there, and police later found 36-year-old Richard Breaux in the vehicle in Jefferson Parish, Montalbano said.
The same house had been broken into on July 27 and a weed-eater stolen, and detectives were able to determine that Breaux had pawned it, linking him to that burglary as well, Montalbano said. The victim is a former prosecutor, but Montalbano said the connection is probably that Breaux was comfortable enough with the layout of the house after the first case to see it as a good target a second time.
“The victim’s not very happy that somebody broke into his house twice,” Montalbano said.
Breaux has an extensive list of fairly recent convictions, according to records at the sheriff’s office. He was found guilty of attempted simple burglary and pleaded guilty to trespassing and a drug charge in 2008, pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a firearm by a felon in 2006, and pleaded guilty to possession of stolen things in 2004. Charges of simple burglary and possession of stolen things were dropped in 2005, and most recently a jury found him not guilty of simple burglary in April.
With his many convictions, especially on burglary-related charges, Montalbano said Breaux is eligible for sentencing under the state’s habitual offender law. If the burglary charge is counted as his fourth felony conviction, the sentence will run from 20 years to life.
“After these last two arrests, he’s not going to get out of jail,” Montalbano said.
My home in the 1200 block of Jena Street was burglarized on August 21 and my laptop and wallet were stolen. My credit card was used within a span of two hours at the Shell at South Carrollton and Earhart and the Chevron on North Rampart, but my attempts to review video footage at both locations were met with store personnel’s insistence that the c-stores were closed at the time and exterior footage was unavailable.
My wallet was subsequently recovered by a neighbor in the next block with credit cards missing but license intact. My laptop is still missing, a MacBook Pro, serial number C17F67F1DH2G, password protected with my picture at the login screen. I filed a police report immediately and was told to await a follow-up visit from an NOPD detective but have heard nothing. Anyone with additional information please contact me.