Teens arrested – charged with string of thefts

The Historic City News local news desk has received word that two St. Johns County teenagers have been arrested — charged with one count each of burglary and larceny and possibly facing additional vehicular burglary charges.

The two suspects, identified as Skyler Richard Sleap, 17, 9232 Touzet Ave., and Colby Gene Lawrence, 16, 8291 Hardwood Landing Rd., were stopped at 3:40 a.m. Sunday as they were driving out of Heritage Landing in a Jeep Cherokee containing a large amount of property that had been reported as stolen.

Deputies responded to the sub-division after a witness heard glass breaking and observed the two going into and out of other vehicles in the area. A description of the vehicle was broadcast and Sergeant Carl Taylor spotted the vehicle near the entrance to the sub-division. The vehicle was impounded and the two suspects were brought in for questioning.

A Property Crimes Detective was called in and one of the boys admitted to burglarizing numerous vehicles earlier that morning. They are also accused of entering an opened garage and removing two electric scooters along with a gasoline leaf blower. Detectives and deputies identified eight other locations where unlocked vehicles were entered. More are suspected at this time.

The locations of the burglaries included three in the 900 block of Indian River Rd., two in the 1900 block of River Lagoon Tr., and one each in the 1000 block of Welaka Way, 700 block of Flowers St., the 1800 block of Enterprise Ave., and the 1200 block of Splendid Ravine St.

Among the items recovered from the suspects’ vehicle included two electric scooters, leaf blower, a laptop computer, two GPS units, several wallets, cell phone chargers, multiple sunglasses, compact discs and checkbooks and an in-dash CD player.

In addition to the burglary charge, Lawrence was also charged with violation of probation and was detained by Juvenile Justice Authorities, while Sleap was released to his parent. Media Relations Officer Kevin Kelshaw tells us the the investigation is continuing.