A habitual criminal from Saucier who is currently awaiting trial in the kidnapping and shooting of a Mississippi law enforcement officer has been sentenced to life in prison as a habitual offender for burglary and grand larceny, according to a release from the Harrison County District Attorney’s Office.

Logan Allan D’Elena, 29, was sentenced by Judge Christopher Schmidt after a jury found him guilty of both crimes after a two-day trial last week.

D’Elena is also one of the individuals still awaiting trial on kidnapping and aggravated assault charges in the January 2023 kidnapping and assault on a former Warren County constable. The constable was later discovered alive in South Mississippi. Authorities reported that the constable had been shot and beaten.

In the burglary and grand larceny convictions from last week in Gulfport, a jury found D’Elena guilty of stealing farm equipment and firearms from a home and property on Turan Road in Harrison County on December 15, 2022.

In that case, a neighbour called 911 to report the theft after assuring the property owner that he had not simply sold some agricultural equipment. The neighbour called after he saw D’Elena return to the site in a Ford F-150 and drive away with the victim’s utility trailer loaded with stolen stuff.

According to police, D’Elena stole a forestry mulcher, a stump grinder, and guns from the victim.

During the inquiry, officials discovered that D’Elena had also pried open a back door at the house and broken a window in a back bedroom to gain entry.

D’Elena trashed the house and used a gas-powered saw to unlock a safe found in a bedroom, according to investigators.

During the investigation, Harrison County officials discovered that D’Elena had initially come by the property the morning of the theft, asking whether any of the farm equipment was for sale. He returned after witnessing the property owner leave later that day.

Investigators concluded that D’Elena had sold the mulcher and grinder for a red Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle and cash before abandoning the utility trailer little over a mile from the victim’s property.

“The utility trailer, forestry mulcher, and stump grinder were returned to the victim,” Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Jasmine Magee stated in the press announcement. “However, the stolen firearms were never recovered.”

Magee and Assistant District Attorney Katherine Simmerman jointly prosecuted the case.

At last week’s trial, prosecutors presented evidence that D’Elena was a chronic criminal, noting three prior felony convictions for burglary, a crime of violence in the state that qualifies for habitual offender prosecution.

D’Elena is already serving another 25-year term for her previous offences.