Second teen arrested in Upstate auto dealership break-in
OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Deputies in Oconee County made a second arrest following a monthslong investigation into an Upstate auto dealership break-in.
The Oconee County Sheriff's Office said 19-year-old Elijah Niheim Lee-Blair, of Walhalla, was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center just before 7 p.m. Monday after investigators linked him to a December 2024 break-in at an auto dealership.
According to reports, deputies responded to a dealership on Clemson Boulevard on December 30, 2024 just after 9 a.m. in reference to vehicle break-ins. Deputies on scene gathered evidence that included smashed windows and 'efforts to try to program the vehicles in order to start them,' reports said.
Deputies said evidence confirmed a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was taken from the dealership.
7NEWS previously reported 18-year-old Trenton Parker, of Asheville, was arrested in relation to the investigation in March. Both Lee-Blair and Parker are charged with one count of malicious injury to property and grand larceny.
Arrest warrants said Lee-Blair and Porter damaged the windows of six vehicles before they stole the Camaro worth $64,987.00. Both were arrested in Cleveland County while driving the stolen Camaro.
Lee-Blair remains at the Oconee County jail under a $100,000 bond. Should he be released, he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Porter was released on March 12 and faces the additional charges of second degree burglary, petit larceny and malicious injury to property in relation to a separate investigation at the same dealership on January 31 of this year.
Porter was required to wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his bond.
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