Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Arrests Second Asheville, NC Teenager in Criminal Investigation at Auto Dealership

Elijah Niheim Lee-Blair

Trenton N. Porter

(Walhalla, SC)-------------------------------------The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has made a second arrest in a late December 2024 criminal investigation at an Oconee County auto dealership.

19 year old Elijah Niheim Lee-Blair, of Ora Street, was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center at around 6:56pm Monday.  Lee-Blair was transported from the Cleveland County (NC) Detention Center to Oconee County and booked into jail by a Deputy from the Warrants Unit. 

On December 30th, 2024, at around 9:09am, a Deputy from the Uniform Patrol Bureau responded to the dealership’s address on Clemson Boulevard in reference to a report of some vehicle break-ins.  The Deputy gathered evidence from the dealership, which included windows being busted out of some vehicles, and efforts to try to program the vehicles in order to start them.  The Deputy also obtained evidence that a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was driven away from the dealership.

The investigations were turned over to an Investigator with the Property Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigations Bureau. 

Based upon evidence obtained during the investigation, the Investigator charged Lee-Blair, along with 18 year old Trenton N. Porter of Erskine Street in Asheville, with one count each of Malicious Injury to Property and Grand Larceny in relation to the investigation. 

According to the arrest warrants, both Lee-Blair and Porter damaged windows to six vehicles.  Lee-Blair and Porter stole the Chevrolet Camaro, which was valued at approximately $64,987.00.  Both Porter and Lee-Blair were arrested in Cleveland County, NC while in possession of the stolen Camaro.  

Porter was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center at around 1:13pm on Tuesday, March 4th after being transported from Cleveland County (NC) to Oconee County.  After being booked into the jail, Porter was served with his arrest warrants in relation to the December 30th investigation, but also with arrest warrants charging him with Second Degree Burglary, Petit Larceny and Malicious Injury to Property in relation to a separate investigation that occurred at the same auto dealership on January 31st of this year. 

At this time, Lee-Blair remains in jail on a combined $100,000 surety bond.  Lee-Blair will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device, as a condition of bond, should he be released from jail. 

Porter was released from jail on March 12th after posting bond and with the requirement to wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his bond. 

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation.