St. Louis Teen Hit with 25 Felonies After GPS Bracelet Tracked Crime Spree

An 18-year-old from south city went on a smash-and-grab spree earlier this month, police say, hitting 11 businesses over the course of two consecutive Wednesday nights in April.

Police say that on April 10, Leslie James III and two others cruised around in a stolen Hyundai, smashing the windows of the Donut Drive-In in Lindenwood Park, Soulard institutions Molly's and Bogart's, as well as other places, stealing various amounts of money from the businesses. The following Wednesday they did the same thing at the My Marie Caribbean restaurant on Cherokee Street and another business in Benton Park.

Fortunately for police, James, who is 18, was wearing a GPS bracelet whilst allegedly committing the crimes. That bracelet "showed him to be at the places of these crimes," the police probable cause statement says.

He was taken into custody on Tuesday and hit with a slew of charges the following day, including 25 felonies and a handful of misdemeanors.

In addition to burglary, attempted burglary and property damage charges, James is also facing a charge for tampering with a motor vehicle related to being in the stolen Hyundai. He was denied bond yesterday.

Court records don't show any previous charges for James, but given his age it is likely those would have been filed in juvenile court. A spokesperson for the court confirms that juveniles can be put on GPS monitoring as part of pretrial release.

The other two individuals allegedly involved in the burglaries have not been charged.