Christmas present thief arrested

Bossier City police arrested a man this morning after he broke into a neighbor’s house and stole several Christmas presents.  Detectives with the Property Crimes Unit arrested Brian Lee Gardner, 31, of the 2500 block of Broadway Drive on charges of burglary, theft, drug possession and resisting.

            Police were called to a home in the 2400 block of Broadway Drive this morning after the resident woke up to find someone had broken into her house and took her children’s Christmas presents from under their Christmas tree.

            During the course of their investigation detectives made contact with Gardner at his home about a block away from the scene. Garner was already wanted by Bossier City police for questioning in connection with other recent burglaries and theft cases. While speaking to detectives Gardner took a pill bottle out of his pocket with what appeared to contain suspected marijuana and attempted to flee.

      Detectives took Gardner into custody and found a credit card in his pocket belonging to the resident who had the Christmas presents stolen. Upon further investigation, detectives recovered the stolen Christmas presents, most of which were toys, from inside Gardner’s home and returned them to the victim. They also recovered the suspected marijuana from inside the pill bottle along with several Xanax tablets.

            Upon questioning Gardner detectives booked him into the Bossier City Jail on a charge of burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He was also charged with the other crimes he was suspected of committing including a residential burglary, a vehicle burglary and stealing cash from two relatives.