Stolen items linked to inmate

Items stolen in several local residential burglaries have been linked to a New Iberia man already in jail, according to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office.

An Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office investigation determined several pieces of recovered jewelry link Rodney J. Grant, 40, to three residential burglaries, authorities said. A DNA match done by the Acadiana Crime Labora-tory also linked Grant to a fourth burglary, authorities said.

Two of the burglaries Grant is suspected in occurred on Caroline Street in July and August, one occurred on East Washington Street in August and the fourth was committed in September on Colgin Street.

“It was blood found at the Caroline Street burglary and they used it to match it to Grant,” Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal said.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Wendell Raborn said Grant was arrested in September when he was found to be in possession of stolen items from the Colgin Street burglary.

He remains in the Iberia Parish Jail on $50,000 bond.

The crime laboratory notified investigators of the DNA match made from evidence obtained at the scene of the burglaries. Investigators will apply for warrants in the four residential burglaries and are currently looking at 24 other cases that might have been committed by Grant.

Burglaries have been a major problem for several New Iberia neighborhoods in recent months. At least 18 burglaries or attempted burglaries have been reported in 2008 in the Country Club Drive and Edgewater Drive areas near City Park — seven in October alone, including two attempts on the home of Mayor Hilda Curry. 

In the Spanish Lake Estates section of the city, at least three burglaries and numerous attempted burglaries have been reported over about the past two months.

Residents held a neighborhood block party Nov. 8 to promote awareness of the problem, as well as to allow neighbors to become more familiar with each other.