At approximately 0500 hours on Friday, December 28, 2018, a LeClaire officer was patrolling a residential neighborhood in LeClaire when he spotted a suspicious vehicle that was running outside of a residence. As the officer pulled up behind it, the vehicle turned off all of its lights and sped off. The officer relocated the vehicle a short time later on a dead end in the same neighborhood. The officer attempted to box the vehicle in, at which time it took off through a yard and the officer lost sight of it. The vehicle was then found, wrecked and abandoned, in a corn field near Pleasant Valley Junior High, with evidence of injuries inside the cab. The vehicle came back to a residence in LeClaire, and was confirmed to be stolen a few hours earlier.
A local hospital then notified law enforcement that they had two juveniles with injuries dropped off to the ER. Around this time, our department began receiving several reports of vehicles that had been broken in to overnight.
After a lengthy investigation, it was discovered that there were 6 juveniles that were in the vehicle that fled from the LeClaire officer that morning. They had gone through several unlocked vehicles all around LeClaire throughout the night and early morning and stole items from some of the vehicles, including a firearm.
During the investigation, 3 stolen vehicles were recovered in the City of Bettendorf. The vehicles were stolen out of Moline, Scott County and LeClaire.
With the assistance of Bettendorf PD, all 6 juveniles were located and taken into custody. 2 females and 2 males were transported to the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center, 1 male was transported to the Scott County Jail and 1 female is pending charges. The charges are as follows:
Female #1 – 17 YOA
Theft 1st(Class C Felony)
Burglary 3rd x8 counts (Aggravated Misdemeanor)
Male #1 – 16 YOA
Trafficking Stolen Weapons (Class C Felony)
Theft 1st(Class C Felony)
Burglary 3rd(Aggravated Misdemeanor)
Female #2 – 15 YOA
Theft 1st(Class C Felony)
Male #2 – 16 YOA
Theft 1st(Class C Felony)
Female #3 – 15 YOA
Charges Pending
Male #3 – 17 YOA
Theft 1st(Class C Felony)
(Also had a warrant out of Bettendorf PD)
The stolen firearm was recovered when the juveniles were taken in to custody.
It should be noted that all of the vehicles that were broken into were left unlocked by the owners. We would like to remind you to always lock your vehicles.
The LeClaire Police Department was assisted by Bettendorf PD and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.
The LeClaire Police Department expects more charges to be filed upon conclusion of the investigation.
AN ARREST WITHOUT DISPOSITION IS NOT AN INDICATION OF GUILT.
Shane Themas
Chief of Police
Author
Anonymous (not verified)
