Sentencing Set for Prolific Burglar; Thievery Approached $1 Million

Part of the goods recovered when police broke the case.

A prolific burglar whose crime spree netted him cash, gold, guns, and watches and myriad of other property will be sentenced on Friday.

Prosecutors intend to ask for an exceptional sentence of 15½ years in prison for Keith Blair, age 34, due to the unprecedented extent of his crime spree.

The sentencing is scheduled for Friday, July 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm, Judge Mariane Spearman’s court, Room W-965. Several of his many victims are expected to attend the sentencing, along with the lead investigator on the case, Detective Cary Coblantz.

After a jury trial, Blair was convicted of 13 charges last month, including nine residential burglary charges, attempted burglary, auto theft, theft of a firearm, and trespassing. Crimes occurred in unincorporated King County and Snohomish counties, Shoreline, Seattle, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Medina, and Kirkland.

Watches.

Blair stole cash, jewelry, gold, electronics, watches, weapons including guns, swords, and bows, along with camping equipment, golf clubs, mountain climbing gear, and other items. And a Porsche worth $50,000!

Blair was responsible for a burglary spree that lasted at least several months, occurring in at least eight police jurisdictions. Detectives aren’t sure how many residences were burglarized, but the number is in the dozens.

BACKGROUND: Shoreline Police detectives first got involved while investigating a Richmond Beach burglary where a safe containing $30,000 in cash was taken, along with Rolex watches and electronics.

A month later there were several other burglaries in the same area, all with an M.O. which included the suspect taking a ladder from the property and entering the house via a 2nd story window. In one house the burglar stole about $100,000 worth of property, including gold, jewelry, expensive watches, and four very unique Japanese swords worth at least $30,000.

Recovered jewelry

Then detectives got a break. On September 25, 2010, residents of a Richmond Beach residence came home from a weekend away to find a man up a ladder trying to break into their home. The homeowner chased the man for several blocks but lost him.

However, an off-duty Seattle officer who lives in the area heard police sirens, and saw a suspicious man get into a car and leave the area. The officer was able to note five of the six digits on the license plate, which he turned over to Shoreline detectives, who traced it to a rental car rented it to a known burglar.

The very next night there was another ladder-burglary. This time the thief got away with a coin collection valued at $50,000.

Meanwhile, working with Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, detectives learned Keith Blair was known to drive the car. The homeowner from the September 25th attempted burglary picked out Blair as the suspect from a photo montage.

The next break in the case came when detectives, working on another case, located Blair’s girl-friend, Kelsey Johnson, selling gold to a shady gold dealer. She showed up to sell gold driving the aforementioned rental car. Armed with a search warrant for the car, detectives located evidence that linked Blair and his girl-friend to several burglaries.

Recovered goods.

Both Blair and Johnson were arrested on October 21, 2010. Further investigation led detectives to a storage unit in Monroe, rented by Blair’s wife Rachel, who hid some of Blair’s loot because she was mad at him for running off with Kelsey.

A semi-truck load of stolen property, worth several hundred thousand dollars, was recovered from the storage unit. The cache linked Blair to at least 16 Snohomish County burglaries and about a dozen in King County. 

Detectives also learned about a Medina burglary where the suspect left behind a pop can. Medina Police had the can in evidence, so Shoreline detectives sent it to the WSP Crime Lab for DNA testing. The test came back to Keith Blair with a 1 in 3.7 quadrillion positive match.

Because detectives now had Blair’s DNA, they linked him to three additional high-end burglaries with 18 stolen guns. These are Snohomish County cases that will be filed after the proceedings here are completed.

--Sgt. John Urquhart, King County Sheriff's Office