18-year-old from LeRoy charged with vehicle theft, burglary, fleeing – Austin Daily Herald

An 18-year-old from LeRoy with a history of car theft is in jail after being charged with vehicle theft earlier this week.

Andrew Carl Leff, was charged Wednesday in Mower County District Court with two felony counts of theft, a single third degree felony count of burglary and felony fleeing a peace officer and a misdemeanor count of fourth degree damage to property.

He is currently being held in Mower County Jail on $100,000 bond with no conditions or $20,000 bond with conditions.

According to the court complaint, Mower County Deputies were dispatched to the 100 block of Industrial Street North in LeRoy at around 6:34 p.m. on Sept. 22, after a site manager for EDP Renewables reported a window having been smashed in a pick-up outside and the garage door opener taken.

Leff allegedly used the opener to gain entrance to a building and is accused of stealing a 2017 white Ford F250, however, the truck was fitted with a GPS  monitoring system allowing for a tracking of the vehicle. 

Tracking through the GPS indicated that the truck was in Iowa and heading back to Minnesota. A MCSO deputy got into position and witnessed the vehicle pass him, observing a white male behind the wheel and the license plate matched that of the vehicle stolen.

The complaint goes on to say that the truck continued on at a very high rate of speed and kept going even after the deputy turned on emergency lights, however, the deputy terminated the pursuit because of wet gravel and safety concerns.

Witnesses later flagged the deputy down and indicated that the truck had gone onto a bicycle trail in Lake Louise State Park, however a search was unable to locate the vehicle. The vehicle was later discovered in a field on land in the state park in the area of 115th Street and Industrial Street LeRoy. Leff was not found at the scene.

EDP Renewables later reported that over $26,000 in tools used in wind turbine maintenance as well as a Hytorc brand pump were missing from the vehicle.

After Leff was identified as the suspect in the case, deputies were able to follow pings from the GPS indicating the truck had been taken to a Kwik Trip in Stewartville at around 5:17 a.m. Video obtained from the Kwik Trip allegedly matched a recent booking photo of Leff.

Leff was arrested when he showed up for an appointment with his probation agent, though he declined to provide a statement. According to the complaint, Leff had recently been released from Olmsted County for motor vehicle charges.

Leff is due in court again for an initial appearance on Oct. 6.