Career Burglar Charged With Auto Theft

By Tim Harlow, Star Tribune, Minneapolis

Jul. 15–Cars, golf clubs and jewelry are among the items a career criminal alleged took during a recent crime spree that ended Friday when authorities caught up with him in Roseville.

Richard Allen Blair, 44, was arrested after a Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office deputy spotted him driving a stolen white Subaru with Washington plates around 11 p.m. near Rice St. and Larpenteur Avenue. He was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, according to a complaint filed this week in Ramsey County District Court.

According to the complaint, Edina were looking for Blair in connection with a burglary. He also is a suspect in burglaries in Lake Elmo, Ritzville, Wash., and Montana.

A woman, identified as Lisa Reichenberger, who was in the car when Blair was stopped in Roseville told authorities that Blair stole a car and jewelry from a Lake Elmo residence and that the two of them fled Minnesota because Edina police were looking to arrest him, the complaint said.

They went to Portland, Ore., where the two pawned jewelry taken in the Lake Elmo burglary, and stole another car and drove to Ritzville, Wash. There they burglarized another home and stole a white Subaru and golf clubs. They pawned the golf clubs in Montana, where they also burglarized another house and took rings and bracelets, the complaint said.

The pair returned to Minnesota driving the white Subaru and with the stolen items stashed inside. When deputies stopped them, Blair told authorities that “the car is mine, the girl had nothing to do with it,” the complaint said.

Records show that Blair has an extensive rap sheet that includes convictions for auto theft, credit card fraud, theft and burglary.

He was booked into the Ramsey County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 21.

Reichenberger was questioned and released pending further investigation, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said.

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